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THE NATURAL HISTORY SECRETARY. 
Part II.— 1866. 

SPECIAL NUMBEE. 

ETHNOLOGY. 




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CONTENTS. 

e a 500 ^> •(y 




The Ethnology of India.— By Mr. Justice Campbell, 1 

The u Kols" of Chota-Nagpore.— By Lt.-Col. E. T. Dalton, 

Commissioner of Chota-Nagpore, 153 

Appendix A. — List of words and phrases to be noted and used as 
test words for the discovery of the radical affinities of lan- 
guages, and for easy comparison, by Mr. Justice Campbell,... 201 

Appendix B. — Comparative Table of Aboriginal words, do., 204 

Appendix C. — Comparative Table of Northern and Arian Words, do. 207 
Appendix D. — Kashmiri Vocabulary and Grammatical Forms, 



by Mr. L. Bowring, 225 

Appendix E. — Language of Dravidian Aborigines. Notes on the 

Oraon Language. — By the Rev. F. Batsch, 251 

Appendix F. — Brief Vocabulary of the Moondah and Cognate 
Languages of the Kolarian type. — By Lieut. -Col. E. T. 

Dalton, 266 

Appendix G-. — Grammar of the Ho Language. (Kolarian Abo- 
rigines.) — By Lieut.-Col. Tickell, &c, , 268 



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JOURNAL 



9 
J 

OF THE 



Page 
1 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 

Part II.— 1866. 
SPECIAL NUMBER. 
ETHNOLOGY. 



CONTENTS. 

ETHNOLOGY OF INDIA, BY MR. JUSTICE CAMPBELL. 

Introductory. 

General remarks, 

' Points recommended for observation, 
' General divisions, ... tif ^ 2 3 

The Aborigines. 

General description, ... ... . 9 2Q 

Main divisions, ... ... 2 5 

Southern or Dra vidian tribes, ... #>i ^ 

Northern or Kolarian tribes, ... ... 30 

Tribes of Western India, ... .., #>< 40 

. Tribes under the Himalayas, ... ... 4g 

The ' Bhooyas' of the Bengal borders, ... 51 

Question regarding the Brahuis, ... 54 

The Modern Indians. 

The Bramins or Khashas, ... ... 

The Jats, ... ... umm ^ 

The Rajpoots, ... ... g^ 

The Koonbees or Koormees, ... ... g 2 

Some Punjab tribes, ... ... ... 

Mahommedan settlers, ... ... .. gg 

Pastoral tribes, Goojars, Aheers, &c, ... ... jq! 



V 



Contents. 



Page 

Mallies and other cultivating tribes, ... ... 105 

The Khatrees, ... ... ... 108 

The Banees and other trading tribes, ... ... 113 

The Kaits and other writer tribes, ... 117 

The Artizans, ... ... ... ... ... 120 

The Inferior Helot classes, ... ... 120 

The tribes of the South, ... ... ... ... 126 

The Borderers. 

The Teermen or Islanders, ... ... 136 

TheMoplahs, ... ... ... ... ... 138 

Tribes of the Bombay Coasts,... ... 140 

The Scindees, ... ... ... ... ..." 141 

The Beloehees, ... ... 141 

The Pathans or Affghans, ... ... ... 142 

The Aboriginal Arians of the Caucasus,... ... ... 145 

Mixed tribes of the Thibetan frontier, ... ... 146 

The tribes of the Eastern Frontier, ... 149 

Postscript, ... ... 150 

THE KOLS OF CHOTA-NAGPORE, BY LIEUT.-COL. 

E. T. DAL TON, 153 

APPENDICES. 

A. List of test, words for use, by Mr. Justice Campbell, ... 201 

B. Comparative table of aboriginal words, do., ... ... 204 

C. Comparative table of Northern and Arian words, do., ... 207 

D. Kashmiri Vocabulary and Forms, by Mr. L. Bowring, ... 225 

E. Vocabulary and Grammar of the Oraon (Dravidian Abo- 

rigines), by Rev. F. Batsch, ... ... ... 251 

F. Comparative Vocabulary of Kolarian words, by Lieut.-Col. 

E. T. Dalton, ... ... ..." ' ... ... 266 

G. Grammar of the Ho (Kolarian Aborigines) Language, by 

Lieut.-Col. Tickell, ... ... ... .. , 268 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 



It is hoped that farther communications on Ethnological sub- 
jects may be received and published in continuation of the 
present special number, so as to form in all a separate and 
special Ethnological volume of the Journal of the Society. The 
paging is therefore kept distinct. 



J U E N A L 

OP THE 

ASIATIC SOCIETY. 

SUPLEMENTARY NUMBER. 
Vol. XXXV. Paet II. 

The Ethnology of India.— By Mr. Justice Campbell. 
[Received 4th June, 1866.] 
I trust that the great subject of Indian Ethnology has been taken 
up by the Society in a serious and earnest manner, with a view to 
that actual observation and practical inquiry which is only possible 
in the countries and on the spots where the various races are found, or 
where specimens of them may be collected together. The Govern- 
ment has already consented to take the first step in aid of the move- 
ment by collecting from its officers, in all parts of India, lists of the 
races and classes existing in the various districts. The present paper 
is designed to assist both Government officers and private persons in 
making classified and descriptive lists in such a uniform manner, and 
with such a uniform nomenclature and arrangement, that it may be 
afterwards possible to weld together the whole of the information thus 
obtained. Without some common plan and nomenclature, without, as 
it were, some Ethnological skeleton to serve as the guide and model 
into which the various details may be fitted, and by which they may 
be classed, I fear that there may be much confusion and error in 
bringing together lists which must necessarily often be made by offi- 
cials who have little knowledge of Ethnology as a science, and whose 
practical knowledge and nomenclature are limited to their own par- 
ticular parts of India, My object then is, to supply a sort of rough 



2 The Ethnology of India. 

liand book of existing information on the subject, particularly as re- 
gards the North of India, and my hope is, that such a guide may 
render much more easy, intelligible, and uniform, the collection of a 
mass of details, which will render our knowledge ample and complete. 
It happens that my personal experience has been wider than that of 
most officers ; I have also travelled much in those parts of India in which 
I have not served, and have made the people a constant subject of 
observation and inquiry. I have farther, for some time past, noted the 
information on this subject which I could collect from books. And 
lastly, I have received much aid in my inquiries from many kind 
friends. During a late visit to the Punjaub frontier, I was under 
great obligations to many of the officers employed there, and feel that 
I can always look for assistance in that quarter. Recent papers by 
Colonel Dalton, Commissioner of the Chota-Nagpore territories, have 
given much information respecting several of the tribes of that locality 
of which I have made free use, and I had looked also to use another 
paper on the Coles promised by Colonel Dalton. It has not been 
received, but I hope that it will soon add to the information which 
I am now able to give. During a tour in the Bombay Presidency, I 
was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance and to obtain the 
assistance of Mr. Perceval of the Civil Service there, since Private 
Secretary to His Excellency Sir B. Frere, and through Mr. Perceval 
I have received a series of very interesting notes on the aborigines of 
that part of India by Captain Probyn, Major Keatinge, Mr. Ash- 
burner, Mr. Probert, and the Rev. Messrs. Moore and Taylor, con- 
taining information not elsewhere procurable. During a former tour 
in the Mysore country and in some of the Madras districts adjoining, I 
received much kind assistance, and Mr. Bowring has since been good 
enough to point out to me some very interesting additional informa- 
tion. With respect, however, to the Telinga country, and the extreme 
South of India, I have not been fortunate enough to obtain all the 
information that I could desire. 

It will be understood, moreover, that as respects every part of India, 
I by no means profess to give a complete sketch. I have not the 
necessary information, and have not time for the necessary study to 
enable me to attempt that. Indeed, in this as in so many other things, 
the more one learns, the more one sees one's ignorance and the vast 



The Ethnology of India. 3 

amount of inquiry that still remains. I only desire to tell so much as 
I know, and to suggest points on which inquiry is desirable. Although 
I have always been much interested in the people, I have usually not 
had time and opportunity to commit all that I have observed to 
writing ; it is in fact only of late years that I have in some degree 
done so. I am obliged therefore frequently to use such expressions 
as 1 1 think,' not because I do not speak from personal observation, 
but because, writing from memory, I must give my impressions subject 
to the chance of error. In attempting too so wide and general a 
subject without great opportunities of study, I am at every turn liable 
to error. I would at once avow that I warrant nothing, even when 
I clo not specially qualify my phrases. I only give my impressions 
for what they are worth. It is true that it would have been possi- 
ble to verify many doubtful points, to fill up many gaps, and to solve 
some difficulties which occur to me in writing this paper, by farther 
enquiries in the proper quarters ; but looking to the character of my 
paper, as an avowedly imperfect sketch, designed to elicit the infor- 
mation which may afterwards render possible something more com- 
plete, I have preferred not to delay, but to give what I now can, as I 
now can. In truth, my object is to suggest our deficiencies, to point 
to them, and to prospect the quarters where valuable strata of in- 
formation may be found. I shall say what I have to say in the most 
simple and least technical form— in a rough and unpolished way. 

My philological acquirements are very deficient. As respects South- 
ern India, Dr. Caldwell, by his comparative grammar, has made com- 
parison easy. But there is no such synthetical account of the Northern 
languages. The character of each can only be separately learned. 
The Rev, Mr. Trump has done much for the languages of the extreme 
North West, but as respects the characteristics of Bengallee, Maratta, 
Guzeratee, &c. when compared to Hindee and Punjabee, I find no 
easy guide, and have not been able to acquire any adequate knowledge. 
— Cashmiree is still scarcely known at all. We very much want such 
an account of the languages of the North as Dr. Caldwell has given 
us for the South. 

In the mere matter of nomenclature, it is surprising how much 
confusion arises, both from calling the same tribes by different names, 
and also from calling different tribes by the same name. The former 



4 The Ethnology of India. 

error can only be met by explaining in detail the tribes variously 
known in various localities ; but in respect to the latter, some general 
caution seems necessary. It often happens that the same term is 
applied both to a Tribe or Caste, and to the profession usually exer- 
cised by that caste, and that while in one sense the term is proper 
to the caste, whether exercising the same or any other profession, in 
another sense it is applied to all exercising the profession, whether of 
the same or of any other caste. For instance, in the greater part of the 
Punjaub, the great agricultural tribe is the Jat, and there the words 
1 Jat' and ' Zemeendar' have come to be used by the people as 
almost synonymous. A man who is asked of what caste he is, will 
reply ' a Zemeendar,' meaning a Jat. And, vice versa, a Punjabee 
will sometimes call a man a Jat, meaning only that he is a Zemeendar. 
When I pressed some of the servants of the Maharajah of Cashmere 
regarding the Ethnology of the valley of the Upper Indus and other 
little known parts, I was at first much puzzled by finding them de- 
clare that the great mass of the people there are 1 Jats,' but I pre- 
sently discovered that they* meant merely Zemeendars or cultivators, 
there being in fact no Jats within the Hills. In the West and South 
too, I believe that the terms 1 Koonbee' and ' Wocal' are used both 
to designate cestain agricultural tribes, and cultivators generally ; so 
that while " the Wocals are by the Mahommedans called Koonbees," 
that circumstance gives no assurance that the tribes are the same. 
The term Bimneah or Banian is properly applied to the great trading 
caste, but it also means a trader, and is often so applied. Again in 
India religious denominations are often applied in a way which con- 
founds them with proper tribal denominations. The character of the 
Hindoo religion is such that it is a pretty safe Ethnological guide, 
converts not being ordinarily received. Mahommedan and other pro- 
selytising religions, on the other hand, are no guide in Ethnology ; on 
the contrary, the Mahommedan Laws of Marriage and Legitimacy are 
such as to tend very much to efface Ethnological demarcations. For 
our purposes therefore, Mahommedan denominations may be entirely 
put aside. But the mere fact, that people are Mahommedans, should 
not deter us from seeking their Tribal denominations in the back 
ground. Many Mahommedan tribes still retain their Hindoo caste 
names, some Hindoo laws, and something of caste exclusiveness. 



The Ethnology of India, 5 

Though not so pure ov characteristic as their Hindoo brethren, many 
Mussulman Hajpoots and Jats are just as well known as such as the 
Hindoos ; while many whole tribes have become Mahommedans with- 
out changing their tribal designations and occupations. Most of the 
modern Sikhs in no way separate from their tribes, and are known as 
' Jat,' or ' Khatrie,' or ' Braman Sikhs,' one member of a family 
being frequently a ' Sing,' while others are not. Jains, I believe, 
are not ethnological ly distinguished from Hindoos. Among the Bun- 
neahs, it appears that some are Hindoos and some Jains, in the same 
tribes and sections of tribes. Very puzzling in the South is the term 
* Lingaiyat' applied to those Ultra- Sivites who wear the Lingam, who 
seem almost to form a caste, and who are generally spoken of as such. 
So far, however, as I can gather, the term is really a mere religious 
denomination, and the Lingaiyats are of various castes, which should 
be distinguished. 

In all inquiries then,, great care is necessary in sifting out tribal, as 
distinguished from mere professional and religious denominations. 
When we arrive at proper tribal titles, it is farther desirable to in- 
quire into the aliases or varieties of title often possessed by the tribes ; 
for it may happen that while an obscure local title is in the most 
common use, another, less frequently used, will at once indicate iden- 
tity with some well known and widely spread caste. 

It is also very necessary to attend to the distinctions between great 
caste titles, and the sub-divisions of those castes. All the great 
castes have numerous gotes or sub-divisions ; and when a man is asked 
to what caste he belongs, he will sometimes give the name of the 
general, and sometimes of the special caste or gote. Some of these 
sub-divisions really are or may be ethnological sub-divisions, others, 
from the peculiarity of Hindoo laws, are not so. On the principle 
which forbids the marriage of relations (carried by Hindoos to an 
extreme) men of the Bajpoot and other castes cannot marry in their 
own 1 gotes,' but must seek their wives in other gotes. In blood 
therefore such castes really form but one race — so far at least as the 
intermarriages are carried— for there are many tribes claiming to be 
Rajpoots whom the higher tribes will not recognize. Of other castes, 
the primary sub-divisions keep altogether apart. I apprehend that 
under the general term ' Bunneah,' are to be found many separate 



6 The Ethnology of India, 

tribes who would on no account eat together or intermarry. I think, 
however, that throughout all the great Hindoo castes, a strong ethno- 
logical resemblance exists. I do not propose in this sketch to at- 
tempt to notice the sub-divisions, except in any case in which they 
may suggest marked ethnological features. 

The details of Rajpoot and Bramin heraldry and hierology have 
been amply given in several excellent works, and I shall touch on 
nothing of that kind. 

A caution which seems to me to be necessary is, that the accounts of 
their origin given by many tribes, and especially by their Chiefs, must 
be received in a very guarded way, because there is a great tendency 
to invent origins illustrious in the eyes of men of the races and reli< 
gions to which they belong. Among the Hindoos, the Rajpoot rule 
is so famous, that almost all tribes which have taken to soldiering or 
acquired power, pretend to a Rajpoot origin. At this day, some of the 
followers of Maratta Chiefs have the impudence to tell strangers that 
they are really Rajpoots, as if their origin was not matter of the most 
recent history ; and almost all the aboriginal tribes who have risen to 
any power (or at least the chief families among them) affect a Raj- 
poot descent. As Colonel Dalton describes it, they are undergoing a 
gradual process of { refining into Rajpoots, 1 a process probably founded 
on a very small Rajpoot immigration and alliance, and a very large 
amount of invention. Even the Jats and other tribes who need 
hardly descend to such stories, frequently make themselves out to be 
Rajpoots who have been separated from the orthodox for some loose- 
ness of practice ; but my impression is, that most of these stories are 
quite idle. Even acknowledged Rajpoots of the North- Western hills 
who are, in an Ethnological point of view, a much finer and purer race 
than any in the plains, assert that their ancestors came from Ajoodea 
or Oude. So in Cashmere, the Bramins there, whose mere features at 
once proclaim them to be one of the highest and purest races in the 
world, instead of adopting the more ancient and better traditions 
which would point to their country as the common origin of the 
Bramin races of India, prefer the story that when Kashyapa dried up 
the Lake (a geological fact patent even to Hindoos) detachments of 
all the most famous and most sacred of the different Bramin classes 
were brought into Cashmere, who, amalgamating, formed the present 



The Ethnology of India. 7 

Cashmeeree Bramins. The real cause of all these stories, I take to be 
this. The Hindoos, as Hindoos and from an orthodox Hindoo point 
of view, did not attain their highest religious, literary, and political 
development, till they were settled in the plains of India ; consequently 
the early Bramins of the valleys of the Himalayas are not considered 
nearly so orthodox, so sacred, or in the Hindoo scale so high, as the 
more famous Bramins of the plains. And the Rajpoots of the Pun- 
jab and the adjoining hills, are not so high in the scale of strict 
Rajpoot orthodoxy as the Solar and Lunar races of Ajoodea. 
Hence it is that the races, really earlier and purer, think it necessary 
to claim descent from those who, in our point of view, are really very 
inferior. 

Again, most tribes which have been for many centuries converted 
to Mahommedanism, set up some origin founded on the traditions and 
literature of the dominant Mahommedan races. They are generally 
descended from Soleiman or Nooshervan, or something of that kind. 
Jewish names and traditions are particularly in vogue among the 
Mahommedans (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and many others known to 
us, are their most common names, in the form of Ibraheem, Yacoob, 
Yoosoof, &c. &c.) and it has been pointed out, that the Affghan asser- 
tion of Jewish descent loses most of its significance, when we find 
how many other tribes have stories of the same kind. I have not been 
able to ascertain whether the " Soleiman's Throne" met with in so 
many places is to be specially referred to the Jewish Solomon, or 
whether the term is merely the " Suleh-man" or wise man of the East. 
At any rate I believe that most of the pretended Mahommedan 
genealogies are in brief 1 bosh.' 

I do not mean that popular traditions are to be neglected, on the 
contrary, I think that they often lead us far towards the truth ; but I say 
that we must use caution and discrimination, to sift the wheat from 
the merest chaff. 

I should add that I believe that the claim of aboriginal and other 
tribes to Rajpoot and such like origin, is not always without some 
foundation in fact. The Rajpoots seem, like the Normans, to have 
frequently found their way in small numbers among inferior races, and 
there amalgamating and intermarrying with them, to have acquired 
by force of character a leadership over them, and to have considerably 



8 The Ethnology of India. 

*» 

raised tlie position of such tribes. There is, I think, a good deal 
to suggest that during the various invasions of Southern India by a 
succession of Northern ' Yavanas,' small tribes of these latter may have 
taken up their position in difficult parts of the country, and there, 
amalgamating with the aboriginal tribes, have formed half-breed races 
of much robber-like and semi-military energy. 

Before going farther, I would suggest the following as especially 
deserving the attention of those who are willing to aid in a popular 
way in classing the various tribes and castes in India. 

1. Physical appearance. The three main types, Caucasian, Mon- 
golian, and Negro or Negrito, are well-known. In India we have, in 
the extreme North, the finest and purest Caucasian type, the handsomer 
and more open form of that which we know as the Jewish cast of 
countenance ; fine head and features, high brow and nose, long beard, 
tall, lithe, powerful figure, colour generally light. Throughout India, 
we have this type modified and subdued by every variety of straight and 
snub nose and plebeian features, much as in Europe, and with a dark 
skin unknown in Europe. Sometimes the skin becomes very black, 
and the lips are thick and protuberant ; there may be marked the 
infusion of blood of the Negrito type which probably modifies the 
higher phase of the Caucasian type, even when actual Negrito features 
cannot be traced. 

This Negrito type we find in India not accompanied with the 
muscular form of many Africans, but in a small slight race. The 
principal points to be marked, in addition to colour, are the lips, already 
alluded to, shape of face, nose, and eyes, presence or absence of a 
considerable beard, character of the hair. 

Among the Thibetans and Nipalese we have extreme examples of 
the type which I call generically Mongolian. The eyes particularly 
there is no mistaking. The hair is straight. The colour is yellowish, 
but never dark. 

2. Language is liable to disturbances, and has been perhaps too 
much taken as a sure guide, but it is always of great assistance, and 
in 19 cases out of 20 tells a true tale. In practice I think that no 
considerable philological acquirements are necessary to enable an ob- 
server to make most useful observations of a language quite unknown 
to him, if he can only get the rudest interpreter. There are certain 



The Ethnology of India. 



9 



words which may almost be taken as unfailing tests in classifying lan- 
guage ; for instance, the first few numerals, the names for the com- 
monest parts of the human body — as hand, foot, nose, eyes, mouthy 
head, <fcc. — the names of the commonest family relations — father, 
mother, brother, sister — sun and moon, fire and water — the personal 
pronouns, and one or two others. I shall try to add to this paper 
some of Mr. Hodgson's lists. I do not know that they are all the 
best selected words, but they are uniform lists of different languages 
in parallel columns, and will enable any observer to determine on the 
spot whether the savage he has caught, prima facie, seems to belong 
to one or other of the classes represented in the columns. I shall 
also make a smaller list of English words, a translation of which I 
would recommend to be sent with each account of a tribe or race, 
speaking a language in any degree peculiar. 

It should be observed that it may not unfrequently happen that 
men who seem to speak but a rough jargon of some well known lan- 
guage may, on close observation, be found to use peculiar terms for 
some of the most familiar objects, and that these latter may be inva- 
luable as containing the remnants of their original language, all but ab- 
sorbed in another which they have for the most part adopted. Especially 
will such words be valuable, if they can be in any degree identified with 
those in any of the Aboriginal Vocabularies. 

Grammatical structure is somewhat more difficult of observation, and 
so far as I know, the general structural character of all the modern 
Indian languages is in a considerable degree similar. I mean that 
there is no such radical difference of formation as there is between 
Hindee and Arabic, But those who can give a little attention to the 
subject, might supply small grammars of declension, conjugation, and 
derivation, which would be eminently useful. And on the Eastern 
Frontier, the distinction between Indian and Indo-Chinese grammatical 
forms might probably be readily marked. 

3. Religion. There is so much similarity in the religions of so 
many rude tribes, that there may be doubt whether such worship as 
that of the Sun, Moon, and the lord of Tigers represents a wide spread 
religion, or merely a coincidence of very obvious ideas repeated again 
and again ; but it is worth noticing these ideas, in the hope that some 



10 The Ethnology of India. 

substantial inductions may be formed from putting together many 
observations. 

And among the more civilised races, I think it not improbable that 
an accurate observation of the prevalence of Sivite and Vishnuite ideas 
respectively, among particular tribes and castes, may be found to have 
an ethnological significance. I cannot help thinking that these two 
forms of modern Hinduism may in fact represent entirely different 
religions derived from widely different sources, and that while the 
Vishnuite faith came from the north, the Sivite may have had some 
other origin, and may be the special property of races which of old 
peculiarly affected it. Sivite monuments certainly seem to be marks 
of a very old faith in the greater part of India, and the essential 
element of it, the reverence for and deification of the procreative power, 
seems to be the same idea of natural progression which is carried on 
by the Buddhist doctrine of gradual perfectibility (raising man almost 
to the rank of a god) in opposition to the Vishnuite or Vedic creed of 
a separate creation of gods and their occasional incarnation in the 
form of man. If then pure Sivites, Buddhists, and Jains are in some- 
way connected, and they all prevail most in the West, who are those 
who brought their doctrines there ? and whence did they come ? 

4. Laws. I believe that, laws are among the most persistent 
ethnological marks, and that, as such, they have been too much ne- 
glected. Caste, and Marriage as a sacrament strictly limited by 
caste, seem to be Arian institutions. Arian are strict rules of inhe- 
ritance, resulting from that sacred form of marriage and subject to none 
of the caprices of Mahommedan and similar laws. Arian is the pri- 
vate property in land, as distinguished from the Tribal ; the property 
first of the village— then of the family— then of the individual ; and a 
consequence is, the attachment of the Arian to his native soil. Espe- 
cially Arian is the form of what we call constitutional, as opposed 
to patriarchal and arbitrary government. The Indian village or Com- 
mune is a constitutional unit, common to all the Arians. A maia 
distinction, as I think, between two great classes of Arians is to be 
traced in the constitution of these Communes— Aristocratic among 
the one — among the other democratic, and recognizing as equals al 
free citizens, to the exclusion of Helots only. 

Among the non-Arians, on the other hand, the rule of the Chiefs 



TJie Ethnology of India. \\ 

seems to be patriarchal and arbitrary— property in the soil is tribal 
rather than individual. There is little local attachment to the soil. 

he aboriginal tribes of India move from place to place, abandoning 
one location and taking up another in a light way ; they are even 
ready to give up their land, to become labourers, and to emigrate in a 
way to which the Arians are by no means prone. They seem to 
have among themselves no caste, they eat anything and every thing. 
Marriage is, I fancy, but a loose tie. On all these points, however, we 
want much information. 

5. Manners and mental characteristics. Under this I must in- 
clude so much that I cannot attempt to detail it. Suffice it to say, 
that any information regarding the temperament and bearing, the 
intelligence, the customs and habits, the amusements and the cere- 
monies of little known tribes, may be in many ways most useful. 

It is patent in India to the most superficial observer that, owing to 
the peculiar institution of castes, mere vicinage (even lasting many 
hundred years) has not, as in Europe, led to the welding of different 
races and tribes into proper local nationalities : that, in fact, in the 
same locality many different races exist together without complete 
intermixture, while a single race may frequently be traced through 
many different provinces and countries, always retaining its own pecu- 
liarities under a great variety of circumstances and in contact with, 
many varying races. On the other hand, language can never be 
exclusive, it must be the means of inter-communication between man 
and man, caste and caste, without distinctions of race or creed. 
Hence, however much by religion and race a tribe may be segregated, 
if it be politically and to a great extent socially united with other 
peoples, it almost always in the end adopts their language, or a com- 
mon language is formed by intermixture. That is the ordinary state 
of Indian society. In the business of life, the different castes are 
united in one society ; some are in the upper, some in the lower strata ; 
one is the lord, another the priest, another the free cultivator, ano- 
ther the hewer of wood and drawer of water ; but still they form one 
social whole. Farther, although the rules of caste and marriage may 
hinder the inter-communication of blood, it cannot but be that in 
the long course of time, during which different tribes live in the 
closest intercourse, there must be some irregular percolation from one 



12 The Ethnology of India. 

to the other ; in the course of thousands of years, something of the 
blood and features of one will be infiltrated into the other. 

Thus it has happened that in India there is a sort of double classi- 
fication of the people, similar to that which we sometimes see in 
rocks in which there is a double stratification, one line of strata 
running say horizontally, and another line crossing the same rock 
say vertically. When we trace a tribe or caste from one Province to 
another, we shall find that in some things it retains the class charac- 
ter, in others it varies according to provincial character, the latter 
chiefly prevailing in point of language. 

I propose to trace, so far as I can, the different tribes and classes 
throughout India, irrespective of local nationalities, and to some extent 
irrespective of language. I had thought that I might afterwards, when 
that is completed, remark on the quasi-nationalities created by the 
use of special languages and the social specialities of particular pro- 
vinces ; but I find that our information is as yet so imperfect, that I 
prefer to leave this latter task to another day. I shall merely 
make some casual remarks on language and a few other national 
features, as they occur in the course of my narrative. 

Till we have accomplished an Ethnological Geography, whether 
Tribal or National, I shall for the most part use the ordinary terms of our 
Modern Political Geography, and speak of the Punjab and Scinde, 
Bengal and Mysore. But for facility of reference, I must make one 
or two explanations. I shall speak of Hindustan and the Hindu- 
stanees as the terms are applied by the natives, to the whole of the 
great Central region of Northern India from the Punjab on one side 
to Bengal on the other, and from the Himalayas to the Southern de- 
clivities of the Satpoora Range running across India in about the 
parallel of 22° Lat. I include in Hindustan, Bahar, (confining, the 
term of Bengal to Bengal Proper) as well as Oude, Rajpootana, and 
Malwa. South of Hindustan to the West is the Maratta country, which 
may be roughly indicated as bounded by a line drawn from Nagpore 
to Goa. And farther South are the Southern countries, sometimes 
called Dravidian, first the Telinga or Telugu country to the East, the 
Canarese to the West ; beyond them again the Tamil country to the 
East, the Malabar or Malayala country to the West. 

As respects the physical features of these countries, it will be remem- 



The Ethnology of India. 



13 



bered that the whole of Bengal proper, the N. W. Provinces and 
Oude, the Punjab and Scinde, with part of the adjoining desert coun- 
try, form a great semi-circular plain in which there is no place of 
refuge (with little exception) for remains of aboriginal races ; in all 
these countries the modern races live together as one social whole. 
But throughout Central and Peninsular India, while the most open 
plains and best cultivated parts of the country are similarly inhabited, 
there are scattered about, over every province, hills and jungles giving 
cover to aboriginal tribes which hold themselves aloof from the 
general population, and are very different in language, manners and 
other particulars. 

It is well known that the great plain is bounded on the north by 
the line of the Himalayas, rising almost suddenly in great and rugged 
height, but yet habitable for a considerable distance inland before the 
snows are reached. That boundary is so uniform that more need not 
be said respecting it, except as regards the northern extremity of 
India. There the plain is not at once succeeded by the Himalaya. 
The range called the Salt Range runs across from Jhelum to Kala- 
Bagh on the Indus, and thence to the Affghan mountains, cutting off 
as it were and enclosing a sort of triangle, and supporting a somewhat 
elevated country something of the character of the Peninsular portion 
of India, and lying between this Salt Range and the Himalaya. The 
Salt Range, it will be presently seen, is an Ethnological boundary 
of some interest. 

I now commence my survey according to Tribes and Castes. 

First, I take as a great division the black aboriginal tribes of the 
interior hills and jungles. There can, I suppose, be no doubt that 
they are the remnants of the race which occupied India before the 
Hindus. I need not here go into any question, whether any portion 
of them had received any civilization from any other source. It is 
enough that all these tribes have many ethnological features in com- 
mon. They are evidently the remains of an element, the greater 
portion of which has been absorbed by, and amalgamated with, the 
modern Indian race, and which, mixed in various degrees with the 
high-featured immigrants, has contributed to form the Hindoo of 
to-day. In the South their speech still forms the basis of the modern 
languages. If proof were wanting that the predominance of Caucasian 



14 The Ethnology of India. 

features has been attained, in a great part of India, but gradually, and 
tliat it is within the historical period that these features have alto- 
gether preponderated, it is only necessary to look at the ancient 
sculptures of the South and West. Take for instance the caves of 
Elephanta near Bombay. Who, looking at the faces there cut in stone, 
and observing the universal thick lip and peculiar feature, can doubt 
that when those were cut, the non-Caucasian element was still large 
even among the higher classes ? 

My scheme, however, is not to separate any of the tribes or castes 
of modern Indian society, and to designate them as aboriginal. All 
those people who have been either completely or partially amalga- 
mated into Hindoo society, whether as proper Hindoos or as Helots 
and outcasts, I regard as coming within the designations of < Modern 
Indians.' I shall class as Aborigines only those tribes which still live 
apart, forming communities by themselves, under their own leaders, 
and often speaking their own peculiar languages. 

As Modern Indians again I class together all the high-featured 
northern races, and all the various tribes, castes, and nationalities 
formed by them after absorbing so much of the aboriginal element 
as has been amalgamated with them, whether they are now Hindoos, 
Mahommedans, or of any other religion. Of course they are mainly 
Hindoos. I draw no wide ethnological line between the Northern 
and Southern countries of India, not recognising the separate Dravidian 
classification of the latter as properly ethnological. It seems to me 
that among all the Hindoo tribes the Arian element now prevails, and 
that the presence, more or less, of the aboriginal element is only a 
question of degree. As a question of degree, I do not think that 
there is, at any geographical parallel, any decided line. It is remarked 
by Max Muller that languages are seldom properly speaking mixed. 
Vocables may be mixed, but a single grammar and structure usually 
prevails. Therefore the change from one language to another must 
in so far be sudden. It is still, I believe, open to dispute whether 
the grammar of the present languages of Northern India is of Sanscrit 
or of Aboriginal origin ; but at any rate this we know, that in the North 
the Arians gained so rapid and complete an ascendancy as to introduce 
their own radical words, numerals, &c, and to render the language 
essentially Avian, while in the South the Aborigines held out 



The Ethnology of India. 15 

longer, tlie tide of Arian immigration was more gradual, and 
the Aboriginal grammar and radicals formed the mould which 
was only filled up by a large over-lay of Arian words. The 
change then of language takes place, where passing southwards we 
exchange the Maratta for Telugu and Canarese. But looking at 
the people, we see no radical change of feature or characteristics. The 
last of those who are more properly Arian in language, are not essen- 
tially superior to the first of those whose language is by its structure 
classed as Dravidian. The Marattas who are classed as Northerners 
(though they probably take their name and much of their blood from 
the aboriginal Mhars and such like tribes, whose features survive in 
their monuments) have no decided advantage over their Canarese 
neighbours ; on the contrary, the Canarese of Belgaum and Dharwar 
are deemed superior to the Marattas of the adjoining districts. And 
to a traveller in Mysore and most of the Southern countries, the 
general features and appearance of the people is, I think, not very 
greatly le>s Arian than that of the lower classes of Hindustanees. 
The truth I take to be, not only that in a mixture of races there is a 
tendency of the higher, more marked, and more prominent type to 
predominate, but also that it may well be that, although the people 
speaking a Dravidian language in the South, may always by force of 
numbers have linguistically prevailed over each separate batch of 
immigrants, and so far annexed them, still by successive immigra- 
tions, notwithstanding a Dravidian form of speech, the Arian blood 
has come in reality greatly to prevail. The mere fact that they 
are recognised as Orthodox Hindoos, seems to imply the Northern 
origin of all the better castes in the South, and that is their own 
account of their origin. I have no doubt that the Southern Hindoos, 
may be generally classed as Arians, and that the Southern society is 
in its structure, its manners, and its laws and institutions an Arian 
society. After all, in their main characteristics, the Southern people 
are very like those of the North. 

Among some of the inferior tribes of the South, the remains of the 
thick lips, the very black skin, and other features may. as I have said ? 
still be traced, but, colour perhaps excepted, the aboriginal features 
are probably gradually wearing away. 

Notwithstanding the identity in the main of the North and the 



16 The Ethnology of India. 

South, it will be seen when I come to details, that the change of 
language very much puzzles and baffles me in the attempt to 
trace the tribes and castes from North to South, and in fact causes 
a substantial gap in the contiguity of my survey, which I trust 
that others will fill. To return to a geological metaphor, there 
is as it were a serious fault at the point where the change of 
languages takes place. A similar series of strata goes on upon 
the other side, but I can't exactly identify the particular veins and 
say which is which. The same series of classes with similar cha- 
racteristics prevail in the South, and, knowing that they must have 
come from the North in a continuous stream, one feels sure that they 
must be identical with Northern congeners. It remains for those 
who have an intimate knowledge of the country on either side of the 
Fault to connect the broken links. Meantime, with the exception 
of the Bramins (who may be traced all through India), I must notice 
the people of the Southern countries separately. 

Commonly as the term is used, it may be well to say a word 
in justification of the use of the term ' Arians' as applied to all 
the Northern people. Not only are they known by the South- 
erners as Aryas, (see Buchanan,) but in fact I believe the term to 
be the correct one. I am aware that some have set down the Jats 
and others as Scythians and Turanians. I have no intention of quar- 
relling with any one who chooses to call them Scythians, for that is 
a very wide and uncertain word, which may have been applied to 
Germans as well as to Jats. But if the word Turanian is applied to 
Punjabees, in the sense of expressing that branch of the human race 
which we call Mongolian, the squat, flat-faced, peculiar eyed, beardless 
people of Central, Northern, and Eastern Asia, then I say that 
the term is wholly inapplicable. Anything more unlike Mongols 
than the tall, handsome, high featured, long bearded Punjabees it 
is impossible to imagine. To say, on the strength of some obscure 
Similarity of names, that any of these people are Mongols and 
Tartars, is not only as unfounded as the connection between Mon- 
mouth and Macedon, but is opposed to the most palpable physical 
facts. It would be about as reasonable to say that the people of 
Tamworth are really Negroes of Timbuctoo, because Tarn and Tim 
are clearly the same word. An Englishman is not more unlike a 
Negro, than a Punjabee is unlike a Mongol. 



The Ethnology of India. 17 

Assuming then that the North-Indians are what we call Caucasian 
in feature, the only question would be whether they may be in any 
degree Semitic. This there seems to be no ground for supposing ; 
there is no radical trace of Semitic language, and we nowhere trace any 
considerable immigration by land of Arabian or other Semitic tribes. 
That being so, I hope that I may properly call the North-Indians 
Arians, and extend the title to all those Indians in whom Arian 
features predominate, even where they have been softened down and 
otherwise qualified by intermixture. 

Although I believe any division of the Northern tribes in India 
into Arian and Turanian to be quite out of place, I have long had 
an impression that the result of a thorough examination may be to 
divide the Indian Arians into two classes ; the earlier Arians, the de- 
scendants of the most ancient Hindus, a people acute, literary, skilled 
in arts, but not very warlike, and rather aristocratic than demo- 
cratic in their institutions ; and the later Arians, warlike people — pos- 
sibly once Scythians — democratic in their institutions, and rather 
energetic than refined and literary. War does not seem to have been 
one of the earliest arts ; we are told that the earliest Egyptians have left 
little in their monuments which suggests that art, and it may be that 
the earliest Hindus had little occasion for it, meeting with but simple 
and peaceful savages. The later Arians appear, in my view, in their 
manners and institutions more nearly to resemble the G-erman tribes, and 
perhaps to them might more properly be applied the term Indo- Germanic. 
The earliest Hindus appear to have had an intimate connection with 
the hills immediately adjoining India on the North-west, and there may 
well have been gradual immigration from the hills to the plains. But 
at a later period, when the people in possession of the North of India 
had acquired considerable power, it seems hardly possible that large 
bodies of conquering immigrants should have found their way to India 
by Cabul and the Khyber Pass. Those defiles are far too dirHcult to 
be forced by strangers in large bodies accompanied by women and 
children. The Affghans, and those who have ruled the Affghans, have 
had the command of the direct route ; but if Rajpoots, Jats &c- came 
as- immigrant peoples, they probably came by the route of the Bolan, 
occupying the high pastoral lands about Quettah, and thence descend- 
ing into the plains below. We shall find accordingly that the Jats 



18 The Ethnology of India, 

(whom on this theory we may suppose to have been the latest comers) 
occupy just the area which would tally with such a mode of immigra- 
tion. 

In physical appearance I would divide Indian Arians into two 
classes, as far as we can call that a division which is only a question of 
degree. The people of the extreme north, the pure Arians, large, fair, 
high-featured, I shall call " High-Arian" in type. The prominence 
and beauty of their features is remarkable. The brow is remarkably 
high and well shaped ; the nose connected by a high bridge with the 
high brow is also well shaped, sometimes straight, more often 
slightly curved ; the eyes are very fine, the lips thin, mouth of a good 
shape, the beard long and full. The type once seen cannot be mistaken. 
The prominence of the brow in adults somewhat conceals the eye, but 
in the children it is something marvellous. On the other hand, the 
more subdued features, more frequently approaching a low and snub- 
nosed type, and resembling those which are common among the lower 
classes in Europe, are in India generally accompanied by a shorter 
(but still pretty robust) form, a skin darker (but still more brown than 
black), and an appearance altogether inferior, but yet not aboriginal in 
its style. This I shall call the " Low-Arian" type. 

In addition to the two main divisions, of aborigines, and modern 
Indians, I propose to put under a third division, those whom I shall 
generally describe as " Borderers," that is, the tribes on the borders, 
whose blood and manners show the influence of immigrants of races 
other than those already noticed. These meet and mix with the 
native populations, and form some marked classes. On the West Coast 
there has been a considerable immigration of Arabs and others ; the same 
has been the case in Lower Sinde. Along the whole line of the 
Himalayas, and on the whole of the Eastern Frontier, Turanian races 
meet the Indians. 

Thus then I have three main classes : — 

1. Aborigines, 

2. Modern Indians, and 

3. Borderers. 

The 2nd are of course by far the largest and most important class. 

Besides making the distinction among modern Indians of high and 
low Arians, there are one or two other points which I would 
notice, before going into Retails. 



The Ethnology of India. 19 

I should like to class Hindus as High and Low Hindus. There 
is a full-blown style of Hindus (principally Hindustanees) who have 
adopted to the full all the modern Hindu superstitions and obser- 
vances, who are very particular about their cooking and such matters, 
and in consequence generally eat but one large meal once a day, whose 
widows may not re-marry, and who are in a continual state of anxiety 
about the rules of their caste. These are high Hindus. There is 
another class of Hindus, much less particular, whose religion and 
religious observances sit very easy upon them, whose widows re-many, 
and whose prejudices do not prevent their taking good wholesome 
meals as often as they can. Such are the Punjabees, some of the 
Hindustanees, and I believe a good many of the Southerners. These 
I would call low Hindus. 

"With respect to caste, whatever there may once have been, there is 
now no proper Military caste. The fighting and dominant tribes are, 
it may be said invariably, in the main Agricultural and are classed as 
such. Why the old Yaisyas are sometimes said to have been the 
Merchant class I do not understand. It is clear that they were the 
body of free people, whose duty it was to till the land, keep flocks, 
carry on trade, and many other things besides. The Soodras were 
the Helots, "whose duty is expressed in one word, viz., to serve the 
other three classes," evidently the conquered race. Now-a-days it 
seems to be considered that, except the Brahmins, almost all are 
Soodras, that is, all have more or less intermixed with the lower races 
and lost their purity of blood. Hindu Society then has lost its former 
great divisions, and has been split up into an infinite variety of decent 
castes of mixed parentage, who have absorbed the old Soodras, as 
well as the Yaisyas. Under them again new tribes of Helots are 
found, probably tribes more recently conquered. 

The Agricultural tribes may, for the most part, be divided into 
three classes :— 

1. Those whose proclivities were originally Pastoral, and gene- 
rally somewhat predatory. 

2. Agricultural tribes in the proper sense, that is, Farmers — men 
who both cultivate the soil on a large scale, and keep cattle and 
waggons when the country is favorable to that kind of Farming. 
These tribes are also most frequently those who have the greatest 



20 TTie Ethnology of India. 

Military vigor, and most democratic constitution, and generally occupy 
the dominant position in the country. 

3. The gardening tribes, i. e., those who do the smaller and finer 
farming and kitchen gardening. These are generally peaceable and 
unmartial people. 

I shall not always exactly follow this order, but shall take first the 
tribes who are politically most important. 

The Mercantile tribes I shall notice separately, and then the Writer 
tribes, where such tribes exist. When I speak of literate occupation, 
I mean exclusive of mercantile business, that being almost every- 
where in the hands of mercantile castes. Next come the Artizans, 
and finally the Helots and inferior classes. 

The Aborigines. 
In giving any general description of the Aborigines, I must premise 
that it is by no means to be supposed that all or most of the indivi- 
duals of the race will correspond to the description. The fact is that 
the Aboriginal tribes now remaining are but like scattered remnants 
of a substance floating here and there in a mass of water, into which 
they have been all but melted, and in which they are on the point of 
disappearing. By far the greater part of their substance has already 
commingled in the fluid around them, the remainder is saturated with 
it, and it is only in the very kernel and inner centre of the largest 
lumps, that something like the pure original substance is to be found. 
There is not in Peninsular India any very large tract of very high 
and difficult country ; the Aboriginal tribes are for the most part not 
collected in any great masses supporting one another, but are found 
in small and detached tribes here and there, wherever a bunch of 
hills or an unhealthy jungle has given them a refuge. Even in these 
retreats, they are everywhere closely surrounded by, and to a consider- 
able' extent penetrated, or as I called it, saturated with an Arian 
element which modifies both their features and their language. 

Another circumstance has perhaps almost as much contributed to 
modify many of these tribes. There seems to be no doubt that at 
points in Indian history, where one dominant race has given way and 
before another has been fully established, tribes of hardy aborigines 
from the hills, accustomed to the use of weapons in the chase and 



The Ethnology of India. 2% 

probably to a good deal of robbery, have come down on the enervated 
people of the plains and valleys, and have established a temporary 
dominion over considerable tracts of country. Just as on the depart- 
ure of the Romans and before the establishment of Teutonic rule, 
the Picts and Scots came down on the cultivated portions of Britain, 
so it seems certain that, at periods long subsequent to the glories of 
the Solar and Lunar Rajpoots, Aboriginal Bhurs and Cheroos estab- 
lished considerable principalities in parts of Oucle and of the Benares 
and Behar Provinces. So also Bheels, Mairs, and Kolees seem to 
have had at one time considerable power in Rajpootana and G-oojerat. 
In comparatively modern times, the Bedas or Beders (whose name is 
I believe really identical with that of the Vedahs or Yedders) seem to 
have established considerable power in the South, and the Gronds in 
Central India acquired quite a wide dominion. Under such circum- 
stances, the savage conquerors are generally themselves socially conquer- 
ed, and the tribes so situated, while gaining some civilisation, lose much 
of their peculiarities of blood and feature, and more of their language. 

By far the largest tract in which the Aboriginal tribes prevail, 
and may be said to form the mass of the inhabitants, is that 
extending through the hilly country from the western and southern 
borders of Bengal, Behar and Benares to the frontiers of the Hydera- 
bad and Madras territories, and from the Eastern Ghats inland to the 
civilised portions of the Nagpore territory ; but even in this tract it 
appears that there are evident monuments of old Hindoo civilisation, 
showing that Hindoos, or at any rate Sivites, had at one time a far 
greater hold on much of this country than they now have, and that 
probably after being partially civilised, it was gained back by the 
Aborigines. Even now this country is intersected by settled and 
cultivated tracts. Hindoos are scattered about it, and there is an 
admixture of Hindoo blood. Still, in all this part of the country, 
Aboriginal tribes muster very strong, and they preserve their lan- 
guage, their manners, and their peculiarities much better than elsewhere. 
It is, however, as I have said, only in the heart and kernel of the 
best preserved tribes, that we must look for the real original character- 
istics existing in a palpable and little-diluted form. In less pure 
specimens, they will be found less distinct. My impression is that, if 
we look carefully, they" will seldom be altogether wanting. The 



22 



The Ethnology of India. 



thick-lipped expression of countenance lingers long. The Glond Raja 
of Nagpore is of a family for generations civilised and Mahomruedan, 
doubtless of very far from pure Aboriginal blood, and rather fair- 
skinned, but even in him I noticed the thick lips as prominent as in 
an African. Major Tickell seems to describe the ' Hos,' who are iden- 
tical with 1 Lurka Coles' and closely allied to Moondahs and Sontals 
(one of the ugliest of races), as handsome ; but everything is compara- 
tive, and I suspect that this beauty is of the same kind as that which 
enthusiastic African travellers are constantly discovering in Negro 
tribes. The Hos of the border land have probably much intermixed 
with Ooriahs, and are less ugly than their congeners are always 
described to be. 

l Setting aside then the numerous half-breeds, borderers, and people 
of imperfect type, I take it that the- general physical type of all the 
purest Aboriginal tribes, is that which is commonly known as Negrito. 
They are small and slight, very black, face broad and flat, the thick 
lips already mentioned very prominent, noses broad and nostrils wide, 
beard scanty, hair very abundant and tangled, of a shock-headed 
appearance, sometimes curly or even woolly. The peculiar Mongolian' 
or Chinese form of the eye is not conspicuous, and altogether the 
features and the face are rather what we best know as African than 
Mongolian. This description crops up everywhere in all the various 
descriptions of Aboriginal tribes. I have not collected all these testi- 
monies, but I will give one or two on which I can lay my hands. 
Col. Dalton says, " The Jushpore Oraons are the ugliest of the race, 
with foreheads c villainous low, ,4 rlat noses and projecting maxillaries, 
they approach the Negro in physiognomy." And again, " The Kaurs, 
next to the Jushpore Oraons, are the ugliest race I have seen, dark, 
coarse-featured, wide mouths and thick lips." In a note which he 
was good enough to send in answer to some inquiries which I made, 
lie adds, " The Oraons have more of the African type of feature, and I 
have seen amongst them woolly heads." An isolated tribe on the 
East Coast, called 1 Chenchwars,' are described in similar terms, and said 
to be " just what you might suppose to result from the crossing of the 
Malacca Aborigines with the common people of this country," the 
Malacca Aborigines being very marked Negritos. The Savage Gronds 
in the forests east of the Wyngunga seem to be of a similar type. So 



The Ethnology of India. 23 

in the papers with which I have been favoured from Bombay, I find 
that Major Keatinge, describing the three tribes of G-onds, Koors, and 
Bheels who meet about Asseerghur, says, " All three tribes are very 
black, with a decidedly African expression when met in the centres of 
their country." And Capt. Probyn, speaking of the more civilised 
G-onds who are now, he says, finer and fairer, still adds, " with some- 
what African features." Major Keatinge adds what illustrates that 
which I have already said, " On the outskirts of their country, their 
features are much modified, showing plainly that they do not succeed 
in keeping their blood pure. The Chiefs have generally made it a 
point to get women of other castes into their households, and I have 
consequently observed that none of them have the national features." 

In the South, the Chermars of Malabar are described as " very di- 
minutive, with a very black complexion, with not unfrequently woolly 
hair." And of some of the tribes of the Kodagherry hills it is said that 
" flattened noses, dark complexion and large white teeth filed into the 
form of a saw give them an African appearance." The Nagadees are 
said to be "in complexion invariably of the deepest black, their hair 
thick and curly, their features brutish, their forms diminutive." 
That the type which I have described prevailed among the Aborigines 
generally in ancient times, is evident from the Purans, where they 
are described in extremely uncomplimentary terms as 1 vile monsters/ 
'allied to monkeys,' 1 as black as crows,' ' of flattened features and of 
dwarfish stature.' Their long thick matted hair is also particularly 
mentioned. 

The ancient Greeks also describe the South-Indians as like Ethio- 
pians, and it is dinicult to assign any other country to the Oriental 
Ethiopians of Herodotus. 

It may be stated, as a physical peculiarity of the Aboriginal tribes, 
that most of them seem to have a remarkable power of resisting 
malaria, and thrive in the most malarious jungles where no other 
human beings can live. This may, however, be the result of long 
habit ; some tribes inhabiting healthy localities sicken easily enough 
elsewhere. 

The languages of the Aborigines seem-to have all this much in 
common, that they are of the structure described as Turanian. They 
are neither like the Monosyllabic Chinese on the one hand, nor on the 



24 



The Ethnology of India. 



other like those Arabian and African languages which seem to form 
their changes by variations in the body of the word. The Indian 
Aboriginal languages, in common with the Hindustanee, the Turkish, 
and some Arian tongues, seem to form declensions, conjugations, and 
derivations, and to supply the place of what we call 1 prepositions' by 
post-positions and post-inflections. The verb or governing word comes 
at the end of the sentence, instead of at the beginning as in English, 
somewhat thus, our order being just reversed. 

Rem acu tetigit 

Cheez sui-se chuha 

Thing needle with touched he. 

The word ' Turanian,' as applied to an immense class of languages, 
does not, however, imply any immediate connection with Thibetans 
or Mongolians, from whom the Indian Aborigines are physically so 
world-wide asunder. It is used in that very wide sense which in- 
cludes not only all the Mongolian races, but all the Polynesian races, 
and all the Negritoes of the Indian Archipelago, Australia, and Van 
Diemen's land. A few vocables are said to be found, common to the 
Dravidian tongues and to some other Turanian languages. But the 
greatest resemblance is said to be not to the nearer Mongolians, but to 
the most distant Finns, and it is at the same time admitted that there 
are at least as great indications of a special connection with the 
Australian Negritoes. It may then generally be said, that both in 
physique and in the structure of their language, the Aborigines present 
a type analogous to that of the Negritoes of the South Seas, Papuans, 
Tasmanians and others, as well as to the nearer Negritoes of Malacca 
and the Andamans. 

That which I have already said of the general character of the laws 
and institutions of the Non- Arians as distinguished from the Arians, is 
all that I can give as common to all these tribes. On this and many 
other points, we require much more information. 

One tribe only I must except, as quite without and beyond the 
general descriptions of the Aborigines which I have given, viz. the 
Toclas of the upper plateau of the Neilgherry hills. They are not 
properly Hindoos, but no one who sees them, would for a moment 
suppose that they belong to the Negrito races. They are evidently 
Caucasians of a high type. In truth they are but a very small tribe j the 



TJie J^nology of India. 25 

common tradition and consent of the country makes it clear that they 
came as conquering immigrants to their present position at a compara- 
tively recent period, and their pastoral habit renders their migration 
easy. Their language, so small a body may well have almost lost 
during their wanderings among Dravidians. They may be anything 
Caucasian, and from anywhere ; ordinary Aborigines they are not. It has 
been said, that in their speech some words have a resemblance to the 
Brahui dialect, but personally they do not seem to resemble Brahuis, 
they are rather like Greeks. 

The points of structure which I have given, as common to all the 
Aboriginal languages, are, it will be observed, of the widest character. 
And this brings me to the fact that by the test of language the 
Aboriginal tribes may be divided into two great classes,, having very 
few vocables in common.* The first great division is that of the tribes 
speaking dialects radically allied to the civilised languages of the 
South, commonly called the Dravidian languages. These then I shall 
call the Dravidian Aborigines. There is no doubt that the wild tribes 
of the southern hills speak wild and primitive forms of the southern 
languages. The Carambers seem to be ancient Tamil speakers, the 
Maleasurs of the Western Ghats approach nearer to the Malayala. 
The Burghers and Kotahs speak a primitive Canarese, the Kamooses, 
a language which seems to be for the most part Telagoo. 

The Goncl language is as clearly Dravidian as Telagoo or Tamil, and 
the Gonds are so considerable a people that the Gondee might almost be 
added to the list of regular languages of the southern type. The 
name Khond is so like Gond that, next neighbours as they are, one 
would almost suppose the words to be the same. They are said to be 
different, but at any rate the Khonds also are shown by their language 
to be clearly Dravidian. More distant is the tongue of the Oraon 
tribe, to whose physical characteristics I have already alluded, and who 
are now found among tribes of the other division (to be presently 
noticed) in the Chota-Nagpore territory. But the radicals and main 
features of the Oraon language leave no doubt that they are of 
Dravidian stock — a circumstance which does not suprise us, as we 
learn that they are comparatively recent immigrants from the west 
into their present locations. East of them again, in the Eajmahal 
hills, we have the last of the Dravidian tribes (so far as has yet been 



26 The Ethnology oj^Tndia. 

ascertained), speaking a language akin to that of the Oraons. Those 
hills form a kind of knot at the extreme eastern point of the hill 
country of Central India. It was known that the people were entirely 
different from their neighbours the Santals. The latter cultivate the 
lower lands, and it may at first sight seem surprising that the higher 
grounds should be in the possession of more recent settlers of a distant 
southern stock. The fact, however, seems to be explained by the 
plundering habits of the Rajmahal hillmen. They seem to have 
occupied those hills as a kind of stronghold, from which they could 
conveniently plunder the plains around them. 

The greater part of the Chota-Nagpore division and adjoining tracts 
is occupied by tribes whom I take as representative of the second or 
northern division of the Aborigines. There are ' Lurka Coles,' 1 Hos,' 
' Bhoomiz,' ' Moondahs,' and Santals, and wilder tribes of the border 
hills, all speaking dialects of a language very different from the 
DravMian. In fact, so far as vocables go, no substantial connection can 
be traced. Max Miiller speaks of these tongues as quite unconnected 
with any other. Still I venture to thi^k that there seems to be some 
similarity of structure between them and the Dravidian languages. 
Major Tickell has published in the Journal of the Society a grammar 
of the Hos or Lurka Col language ; and I note the following as a few 
of the peculiarities common to it and to the Dravidian tongues, as the 
latter are set forth by Dr. Caldwell. 

First, there is the general coincidence of structure, which I have 
already noticed as common to all the Aboriginal tongues as well as to 
Hindustanee, Turkish, &c. In this respect, the northern Aborigines 
do not differ, and they similarly use postpositions, (fee. 

Further. In the Dravidian tongues there is no regular gender, 
all inanimate things are neuter, and the terms male and female are 
prefixed when necessary. 

It seems to be the same in the northern aboriginal tongues. 

Adjectives do not decline, nor are there degrees of comparison. 

It is the same in the northern tongues. 

There are two forms of the first person plural, one to include, and the 
other to exclude the person addressed. 

This peculiarity also is found among the northern tribes, as well as 
in the Australian tongues. 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 27 

Relative participles are used instead of relative pronouns in both 
classes of languages. 

The northern tongues seem to be considered more highly inflected 
than the Dravidian, and they have a regular dual form which the 
others have not. The verbs have no passive voice. 

It would seem to imply a higher organisation in the northern 
aboriginal languages, that the vocabularies show them to be more 
complete, and less to borrow from their neighbours all words beyond 
the very simplest. For instance, in the matter of numbers, while the 
Gonds do not go beyond ten, the Oraons beyond four, nor the 
Rajmahalees beyond two in Dravidian numbers, (borrowing all the rest 
from the Hindee,) the Coles and Santals count up to high numbers 
in their own tongue, only using scores instead of the decimal notation 
of hundreds, as do many ^.rian tribes. I have seen it stated that the 
Dravidian Khonds count by dozens. 

Max Midler remarks that savage tribes, with no letters to fix 
their tongues, alter their speech much more rapidly than civilised 
nations ; and it may be that, when we have two groups of people adjoin- 
ing one another and with a general physical similarity, such a general 
structural resemblance of language as I have noticed may mark a 
remote common origin, even when the community of vocables can no 
longer be traced. But at any rate, the difference is now so wide as to 
establish, as I have said, two distinctly marked groups. 

The generic name usually applied to the Aborigines of the hill 
country of Chota-Nagpore, Mirzapore and Rewah is ' Coles' or 1 Roles.' 
Europeans apply the term to the Dravidian Oraons as well as to the 
others, but perhaps erroneously. It is difficult to say to which tribes 
the name is properly applied, for most of them have other distinctive 
names. But in the south of the Chota-Nagpore country, about 
Singbhoom, &c. it is certainly applied to the ' Lurka Coles,' and I can 
myself testify that on the Mirzapore- Jubbulpore road, the Aborigines 
are called by the natives Coles or Kolees, which they volunteered to 
explain to me to be the same word £i which you call Coolee." On the 
Bombay side again a very numerous class of Aborigines are styled 
Kolees. In the Simla hills also, the inferior people are known as 
Kolees. Altogether I have myself little doubt that the ordinary word 
Coolee, as applied to a bearer of burdens or labourer, is the same word, 



28 



The Ethnology of India. 



and that in short it is the word generally applied by the Northern 
Indians to the Aboriginal tribes, most of whom they reduced to the 
condition of Helots. 

There seems to be good reason to suppose that the original form of 
the word was ' Kola' or c Kolar.' In fact, India seems to have been 
known to the ancients (who approached it coastwise from the West) as 
Colara or Coolee-lancl (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX.) and the people as 
Colaurians. If Kolar be the original form of Kolee, it would seem 
not improbable that, as in the mouths of some tribes by dropping the 1 r' 
it became Kola or Kolee, so in the mouths of others, by dropping the 
' V it would become Koar, Kaur, Koor, Khar or Khor, a form which 
would embrace a large number of those tribes as now designated. I 
propose then to call the northern tribes Kolarian or Coolee Aborigines. 

One may see frequent allusion to Kolareee or Colleries in the south 
of India. It appears that "the word there used is properly ' Kallar.' 
In the Ganarese language, the word ' Kallar,' it seems, simply means a 
thief or robber, and hence some of the predatory Aborigines of the 
hills, are designated Kallars or robbers, just as the thieves of Central 
Asia are called ' Kazaks' or 1 Cossacks.' The word is applied so 
differently from that of Coolee, that there may fairly be doubt of its 
being the same. But the subject is worthy of farther inquiry, and if 
it prove that in fact the two words are identical, the term Coolee or 
Kolarian must be applied to the Aboriginal tribes generally, not to one 
division of them. Meantime, however, I apply it to the Northern 
tribes only, but I confess I have misgivings whether the more general 
sense may not prove to be the true one. 

Beyond the difference of language, I am unable to state with con- 
fidence any very marked features distinguishing the Dravidian and 
Kolarian groups of tribes (each taken as a whole) from one another, 
But a marked difference in habits, manners, and national characteristics, 
has been found to exist where the two classes are in the closest conti- 
guity. The Santals and Eajmahalees are known to present a marked 
contrast, and on the Chota-Nagpore plateau I am told that " the 
difference is so great, that they appeared to be quite another nation," 
and " their customs, appearance, even manners, are very different." 
Of these differences we have not the details, but I hope that they may 
be furnished in Col. Dalton's promised paper on the Coles. 



The Ethnology of India. 29 

The Kolarian Santals are a very ugly race, and I gather that their 
neighbours, the Dravidian Rajmahalees, have rather the advantage of 
them in this respect, hut these latter have probably kidnapped a good 
many Arian women from the plains. I have fancied that I have noticed 
in some of the ' Dhangar' labourers in and about Calcutta, a peculiar 
little c pique' ' retrousse' sort of nose, as distinguished from the flat 
broad-nosed features of the Santals, but this scarcely amounts to an 
observation. It may be noticed that in the passages which I have 
quoted in regard to the general type of the Aborigines, the African 
style was more especially attributed to Dravidian Oraons, G-onds and 
Chenchwars, &c. The Kolarians, Kaurs, Khairwars and Koors, are 
also represented as only one degree less ill-favoured ; so, on the whole, 
I imagine that in point of personal appearance there is not much to 
choose between the two groups. Ethnographers seem to distinguish 
the Negritoes of the Southern Seas into two groups, a woolly or curly- 
haired group, and a straight-haired group ; perhaps there, may be found 
to have been some such division in India. 

The Santals and most of their immediate congeners, are certainly 
a more simple, mild, and industrious race than the Rajmahalees, Gonds, 
Khonds, and Southern Kallar tribes ; but again the Lurka Coles seem 
to be warlike, and the hill Khorewahs are described as wild savages, 
armed with battle axes and bows and arrows. On the whole, I should 
rather imagine that the Kolarians are more frequently good Coolees, 
and the Dravidians oftener troublesome Kallars. 

The descriptions of the Aborigines as a good-natured people, ever 
dancing and singing (in a way that reminds one of the pleasanter 
descriptions of the Negroes,) I find to be applied to the Kolarians,— 
Santals, Moonclahs, Khorewahs, &c. — more than to the Dravidian tribes 
As respects religion, although the indications are too slight for any 
confident generalisation, the accounts of the Kolarian creed seem 
pleasanter than those of the Dravidian beliefs and rites. The latter 
seem to deal in demonology, fetishism, frantic dances, bloody and 
even human sacrifices, in a way which reminds us of the worst African 
types ; while several different accounts of Northern Aborigines, in widely 
different parts of the country, represent them as reverencing in an 
inoffensive way the sun, moon, and Lord of tigers, and mild and innocent 
Bhoots or household spirits. The superstitious belief in tigers' claws 



80 The Ethnology of India. 

as a charm, is shared with the Aborigines by all the Hindustanees. 
Another practice of the Aborigines the latter also have in hilly tracts, 
the heaping up cairns of stones at particular points, and tying bits of 
rag to a particular tree as votive offerings. This last may be seen 
anywhere, and these practices are probably very widely spread. 

If there really be such a distinction between the Dravidian and 
Kolarian religions as that at which I have hinted, it is very like a 
similar distinction in Africa. In a work on South Africa by the 
Kev. Mr. Grout, we are told that the gods of the Hottentots are 
above, the sun, moon, &c. while those of the Kaffirs and more war- 
like Negroes south of the line are below, demons and evil spirits. 
Among some of the latter too are seen the horrid rites and bloody 
sacrifices. It strikes me that there is some resemblance in appearance 
between Hottentots and Santals. 

A curious testimony to the ancient rights of the Indian 1 Boomeas' 
or people of the soil, is the practice in many parts of Central India 
where Hindu chiefs are dominant, that a new chief on his accession 
receives the teka or investiture from the blood of an Aboriginal Kole, 
Grond or Bheel. 

I proceed to mention the various tribes in detail, so far as my imper- 
fect knowledge of them permits. 

The Aboriginal tribes now living apart from the general population 
in the South of India, appear to be very small and scattered. They 
are there for the most part absorbed in the general social system. 
Pariahs and others, as is well known, merely form a lower social grade. 
The robber tribes, Beders and such like, seem for the most part to 
have robbed themselves into a respectable and even aristocratical posi- 
tion. The Beders in some parts of Mysore now form a considerable 
portion of the population, and they have many Polygarships. There 
seems to be some doubt whether the Badagras and Kotas of the lower 
Neilgherry hills are properly Aborigines, they being, it appears, immi- 
grants in those parts, and the Carambers the true Aborigines. I have 
not been able to meet with any very connected or detailed account of 
the thoroughly Aboriginal tribes of the hills and forests of the 
Neilgherries, Pulneys, and Western Ghats. The.word Maleasur seems 
to mean simply a hillman, and the more proper tribal designations 
appear to be Carambers, Irulars, Puliars, and Yeders. These seem to 



The Ethnology of India. 31 

be tribes in the very lowest stage of savageness, witli in fact scarcely 
any agriculture, mere men of the woods. They are represented as of 
very diminutive stature, with thickly matted locks and supple limbs, 
living under trees in caverns or in the rudest wigwams, keeping 
sheep or collecting forest produce, very stupid but also very mild and 
inoffensive, except that they have a great reputation as sorcerers, and 
themselves believing in a religion of demons and witchcraft, are by 
their neighbours believed to be highly gifted that way. Altogether 
they seem to be very inferior to the simple but sturdy and industrious 
Coolees of the north. 

The Chenchwars, already mentioned, and several very petty and ' 
isolated tribes exist in the Eastern Grhats about and north of Madras. 
I can only give the names of " Chendaurs" and " Yencle" as near the 
Kistna and Pulicat Lake. Allusions seem to be made to the existence 
of Aboriginal or quasi- Aboriginal tribes at different points in the 
Western Grhats and Coasts ; the name of " Chermars" and " Neade'' 
are mentioned in Travancore and Cochin, but they are no doubt the 
same as Chermars and Nagadees, the slaves of Malabar. The Dhers 
and Eamooses of the centre and west of the Peninsula seem to be mixed 
with the general population. On all these points more precise informa- 
tion is much required. 

It is not till we cross the Godavery to the north, that we come to 
the country really held by the Aborigines. 

In the highlands between the G-odavery and the Mahanaddee, the 
savage Khonds, notorious for their human sacrifices, are to the East, 
the barbarous and less known tribes of G-onds to the West and more 
in the interior. 

The Khonds appear to be in contact with Hindus and to have some 
of that race among them. Their blood is probably somewhat mixed, 
and they are not described as so ugly and ultra-Aboriginal as some 
other tribes. 

Of the Gonds of the forests of Bustar and thence running up towards 
the Wyngunga we know very little, except that they are extreme 
savages, black, ugly, barbarous and dangerous. The name " Marees" 
seems to be there applied to them, and they appear to be nearly inde- 
pendent, owning a scant allegiance to chiefs whose blood is for the most 
part Gond. From thence the Gonds extend a long way North, and 



32 Tlie Ethioloyij of India. 

occupy a broad tract east and west wherever tlie country is jungly or 
hilly, but becoming more and more civilised and more dominant over 
others as we go northwards. The valley of Sumbhulpore may be 
taken as for the most part marking the division between the G-ond 
country on one side, and that of the Aborigines of northern stock 
on the other. 

On the east the Gronds, under the name of G-ours, extend into the 
borders of the Chota-Nagpore agency in Oodeypore and Sirgoojah, 
but they are there much Hinduised and have lost their language. The 
Baja of Sirgoojah, though pretending to be a Rajpoot, is suspected to 
be a G-our ; at any rate the Grours are there the dominant tribe. 
Thence westward along the line of the Sautpoora hills, through all the 
hilly country of the districts of Mandla, Jubbulpore, Seonee, Chand- 
wara, Baitool and Hoshangabad, in fact in some degree to the neigh- 
bourhood of Asseerghur, the Gronds predominate. In the wilder parts, 
they speak their own Aboriginal language, and seem there to be a 
simple and not intractable people, following both pastoral and agricul- 
tural pursuits. In the older maps, the name G-ondwana is given to a 
wider tract of country in this part of Central India, being that which 
was in modern times rather politically than ethnologically G-pnd. 
The Gronds (in a somewhat civilised form) were in fact for some time 
masters of all this part of the country, including the open and culti- 
vated tracts about Nagpore, Raepore, Jubbulpore, &c. and perhaps as 
far as Ellichpore on the one hand, and on the other to the south of the 
Groclavery, where some of them are found among the ordinary Telinga 
population. Deogurh in the Sautpooras was the chief seat of their 
power. They immediately preceded the Marattas. These latter 
ousted them from the open and valuable tracts, and they do not now 
form any considerable part of the population of the plain country, but 
they maintained a feudal dominion in much of the hilly country ; and 
to this day not only the chiefs and large zemindars of the Sautpoora 
range, but most of the men of considerable position in parts of Saugor 
and other districts north of the Nerbudda are, I understand, Gronds, 
diluted or improved Gronds as the case may be, (most of them wish to 
become Rajpoots, and others have become Mussulmans), but still G-onds. 

Following up the Dravidian tribes, we next come to the Oraons, now 
located in the midst of Kolarian tribes and much mixed up with 



The Ethnology of India. 



33 



tliem. The G-onds or G-ours have been mentioned as found in a not 
very pure form in the west of Oodeypore, and Sirgoojah of the Chota- 
Nagpore division. In the highlands to the east of those states and 
of Jushpore, the Oraons are found. Col. Dalton mentions them as form- 
ing the greater part of the population of a considerable portion of the 
Jushpore highlands, and it is these whom he describes as the ugliest of 
the race. Thence eastwards the Oraons have pushed themselves into 
the proper country of the Moondahs (of Kolarian race) in the plateau 
of the Chota-Nagpore district and adjoining country. They must 
have been strong, to effect an ingress to a country not originally their 
own, but I do not understand that they are now at all dominant over 
the others. In fact they seem to have very much adopted the habits 
of the Kolarians, among whom or in contact with whom they live, 
are industrious and laborious, and as much as the others contribute to 
the supply of the labour market of Bengal. I understand that they 
form a considerable proportion of the Calcutta Dhangars ; that last 
term being one the proper meaning of which I cannot ascertain, but 
which, so far as I can learn, is applied generically to the aboriginal 
labourers in Calcutta. 

Separated from the Oraons by a considerable space (principally of 
lower but still more or less hilly country, occupied by mixed tribes of 
Kolarians, Hindustanees, and Bengalees), are the Dravidian Rajma- 
halees, whose proper tribal name, I have not ascertained. They are 
sometimes called Maler, but that is merely the Dravidian form for 
mountaineers, the word applied to so many of these tribes. 

These are the men who are well known in connection with Mr. 
Cleveland's endeavours to tame and reform them. They seem to have 
been in those days terrible depredators. That all the parts of India 
adjoining the Central hills, both at this point and throughout a con- 
siderably wider range, were in times of anarchy dreadfully subject to 
injury from the hill-men, is still attested by the numerous and exten- 
sive ' ghatwallee' tenures held all along the foot of the hills and 
about the Grhats and passes. They are particularly numerous in the 
Bhaugulpore and Beerbhoom districts, adjoining the Rajmahal hills 
on either side. Such estates pay little or no revenue, but are held on 
the condition of guarding the passes against hill robbers, murderers, 
and cattle-lifters. The hill-men have been successfully reclaimed, 



The Ethnology of Indict, 



I believe that tliey cultivate quietly, and there appears to be now 
little complaint against them. Organised and serious raids on the 
plains are, I understand, unknown. The Rajmahal men are those who 
were enlisted into the British military service to form the local corps 
known as the Bhaugulpore Hill Rangers ; but when the usually quiet 
Santals were impelled by a sense of wrong to a headlong sort of 
rebellion, the other (and it was supposed more military) race forming 
the Rangers, when opposed to them, by no means distinguished 
themselves, and they have since, I think, been disbanded. 

I now pass to the Kolarian tribes. The more civilised and numerous 
tribes of this race, occupying an extensive country about 150 miles 
west from Calcutta, and known as Moondahs, Bhoomiz, Hos, and 
Santals, speak languages so nearly identical, that they may all 
be regarded as Sub-divisions of one people. They are in fact very 
like one another in many ways. They occupy most of the British 
districts of Chota-Nagpore, Singbhoom, Maunbhoom, and the hilly part 
of Bhaugulpore (Rajmahal hills excepted) now known as the Santal 
Pergunnahs ; also parts of West Burdwan, Midnapore and Cuttack. 
They are a simple industrious people, and are reputed to be 
remarkably honest and truthful. Their country is healthy and, 
unlike most aboriginal tribes in most parts of the world, they seem 
by no means to be dying out, but multiply and supply the labour 
market. Partly on account of the cheapness of labour in their 
country, partly on account of their tractable disposition and freedom 
from all caste and food prejudices, and more especially, I think, because 
of that want of attachment to the soil which distinguishes the 
Aboriginal from the Arian, they are much sought after and highly 
prized as labourers. Many of them are settled in the service of Bengal 
Indigo-planters ; they are very well known as labourers on the Railways, 
roads, and other works of Western Bengal ; and they are now, I believe, 
the favourite material for emigration to Assam. Unfortunately, 
however, coming from a healthy high and dry country, they have not 
that capacity for resisting malaria for which the wilder tribes are 
remarkable, and seem to die very rapidly. 

In the Chota-Nagpore country, the ' Moondahs' seem to have so far 
adopted Arian manners, as to live together in considerable villages, 
instead of apart in detached houses or isolated hamlets, according to 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 35 

the common practice of these tribes ; but I am told that so great is 
their instability and want of attachment to any particular spot, that 
not unfrequently, on some petty quarrel with their zemindar, a whole 
village will abandon their houses and seek other locations, or put 
themselves under the guidance of a Coolee recruiting-agent. The Hos 
and Bhoomiz* of the lower parts of Singbhoom and Maunbhoom, seem 
to be tolerably civilised. The Santals, though geographically near 
the plains, seem to be among the most shy and socially-isolated of 
the race. They cultivate the lower lands of their country, but seem to 
have kept very much to themselves, and to prefer locations surrounded 
by jungle and segregated from the world. They too, however, have 
now taken much to labour for hire, and they must have become 
intimate with Europeans. In the case of these people is to be found 
practical illustration of a truth of wider application in India, viz. that 
in a mere pecuniary and commercial point of view, tact and scrupulous 
fairness in dealing with the natives are more effectual than all other 
means, and go farther than any laws and any administration. I believe 
that certain of the Railway Engineers, who have gained the special 
confidence of the Santals and allied tribes, construct the railway mile 
for mile infinitely cheaper than any others. 

On the borders of the hills, a set of half-breeds seem to be not only by 
profession Grhatwals, but to constitute a sort of caste under that name. 

I have alluded to the language of these Kolarian tribes. One 
would hope or expect here to find the origin of the non-Arian 
elements of the Hindee and other northern languages. This, however, 
has not yet been so. It is difficult to distinguish between words 
borrowed by the Aborigines from the modern Hindustanee or Bengalee 
and those of a common origin. A few of the words in Hodgson's lists are 
like Hindee, but most of them seem to be Arian words. Some words 
seem to be used throughout India as ' Donga,' a boat, and some are 
words of much wider use as f Ka' 1 Kahee' or 1 Kova,' a crow and 1 Pussi,' 
a cat. It is then no doubt the case that the very brief and imperfect 
vocabularies of the Kolarian tongues yet published, have not shown 
an immediate connection with any other known language. More 

* Bhoomiz, I believe merely means e people of the soil' from Bhoomi, being 
nearly the same word as the Persian ' Zemindar.' What the Hindoo tribes are 
to the Mahommedans, the aborigines are to the Hindoos, 



g$ The Ethnology of India. 

minute inquiry would be very desirable. Besides a more exact and 
full grammar, I think it would be well to separate out from the Hindee 
a list of non- Sanscrit words of common use, (and which are not also 
common to the greater part of the world, such as " howa" a crow, and 
some of the universal Turanian words), and having thus got what I may 
eall a Hindee proper vocabulary, to compare it carefully with the 
dialects of the Santals, &c. 

In addition to the semi-civilised tribes which I have mentioned, 
nearly the same language is spoken by the wilder Lurka Coles of the 
hills to the West of the Singbhoom district. North of these latter 
again, in the highest hills to the North of Jushpore, and in those 
between Sirgoojah and Palamow, Col. Dalton mentions a considerable 
tribe called Khorewahs, who speak much the same language, whose 
manners and habits are the same, and who are evidently of the same 
stock, though much less civilised ; some, he says, utterly savage and 
almost Nomadic. They are said to be of small stature, but better 
looking and lighter than their neighbours, the Dravidian Oraons, with 
shaggy heads of hair and some beard. 

Mention is made of some other very wild tribes scattered about the 
Chota-Nagpore division, Kherrias (who are a mystery even to Col. 
Dalton), Bendkurrs and Birhores in the south of the division, and 
Bhuhars or Boyars (not to be confounded with very different Bhuyas to 
be subsequently noticed) in the north ; but the languages and affinities 
of these tribes have not been ascertained sufficiently to place them. 
They are described as " regularly wild inhabitants of the hills and jun^ 
gles, who have no fixed villages, but move about from place to place, 
burning down the jungles, sowing in the ashes, and after reaping 
what is produced, going elsewhere." 

On the Sumbulpore borders, the Coles, intermixed among the Gronds, 
are said to be known as " Kirkees." 

Mr. Samuells mentioned a wild tribe in the jungies of Cuttack, 
whom he calls 1 Janguas,' perfect savages, small, slender, nearly 
naked, and horrid in appearance. They speak a strange languag-e, 
and he gives a few words, some of which seem like the language 
of the Santals, &c , as 1 Minnah,' one, and ' Bana,' two. 

The Aboriginal tribes near Cuttack strike a bargain by breaking 
a straw. 



The Ethnology of India. 37 

In some places the word 1 Soor' or ' Sourah' seems to be used, as 
if the same as ' Santal and Mr. Stirling, in an article on Cuttack, 
(in the Asiatic Researches) enumerates i Santals' and 1 Soors' 
separately among the tribes of Coles. It would seem then as if 
Soors or Sourahs were a tribe of Santals on the borders of the 
Cuttack division. Bat the Soors under the hills north of the 
Mahanaddee, while described as small, mean, and very black, and like 
the Santals naturally harmless, peaceable and industrious, are also 
said to be without moral sense and ready to cut firewood or other men's 
throats indifferently, an accusation not, I think, brought against the 
Santals. 

Again, Macpherson tells us, that the hill tribes soulli of the Khonds 7 
and running up to near the Grodavery, are Sourahs. That is quite a 
different location, and I have not found any farther account of these 
Sourahs. Caldwell says that the Tamil people were anciently called 
1 Sorahs,' but as they are the most Dra vidian of all the southern 
people, they can hardly be allied to the Kolarian Santals, and the 
word must be different. The whole subject requires a good deal 
of fresh light. 

Passing north, I have till now reserved, for separate notice, the 
tribes chiefly prevailing in the district of Palamow, the hilly country 
of Mirzapore and Rewah, and the borders of Benares and Behar. 
These are the Aboriginal tribes most directly in contact with the 
modern Hindustanees, and there is this difficulty about classifying 
them, that I have not been able to ascertain their original language. 
They now generally speak some sort of dialect of the Hindee, and 
are more mixed with the Hindustanees, perhaps I may say generally 
more civilised, than the tribes located farther in the interior of the 
hills. The principal tribe of these parts are called ' Kharwars' or 
' Kharawars.' There is also a widely spread tribe of ' Raj wars.' A 
division of the Kharwars are called ' Bhogtahs.' The Kharwars seem 
to be altogether the dominant tribe of Palamow and Singrowlee 
(the Mirzapore hill country). Both Kharwars and Rajwars are also 
found in considerable numbers westward, in parts of Sirgoojah and 
Jushpore, while to the north-east, in the parts of the plains adjoin- 
ing the hills, they are numerous. In the Gya district, near the 
hills, the Rajwars are the chief labouring class. They live in the 



88 The Ethnology of India. 

villages as a kind of serfs and bearers of burdens, cany palanquins, 
and when out of employ, are apt to be thieves and robbers. A little 
farther west, the Kharwars seem to perform the same functions ; they 
are mentioned by Buchanan as in the outskirts of the Patna and 
Arrah Districts. On the road from Mirzapore to Jubbulpore, where 
it passes through Rewah, &c, the palanquin bearers and coolies are 
Aborigines. When I passed that way some time ago, not having 
then gone into the subject, I did not ask the particular tribe, nor 
have I since been able to ascertain it, but in all probability they are 
Kharwars. 

All these people have in their faces unmistakeable marks of their 
aboriginal origin. But they speak Hindee. This then brings us to 
the difficulty about language. Col. Dalton is not aware of any 
Aboriginal language spoken by the Kharwars. I have had the im- 
pression that in the Mirzapore district they spoke their own language ; 
and Capt. Blunt, who in the last century made a remarkable journey 
from Chunar right through the hills to the Grodavery (see Asiatic 
Researches, Vol. 7), almost at the outset of his journey mentions the 
Kharawars of the Singrowlee hills as very savage, and speaking a 
separate and quite unintelligible language. But the Rev. R. C. 
Mather of Mirzapore, who has been good enough to write for me a 
note on the subject (of which I have already made use), and who 
refers to a tour made by the Rev. Mr. Jones, is unable to say that 
any aboriginal language exists in these parts. He says that both 
the Kharwars and another similar tribe, locally called 1 Majhwars,' 
speak the Hindee, or at least understand it when spoken. It would 
be very interesting to ascertain if the remains of an original language 
exists among these people, for with them more especially we should 
expect to find the non- Aryan Hindee roots. If aboriginal tribes 
so situated have no separate language of their own, it may arise from 
either of two causes ; either they may have abandoned their own 
language and adopted that of the people who are flooding over and 
as it were submerging them ; or the fact may be that, in its most 
radical parts, the language of these latter having been the same as 
their own, an influx of vocables on this common basis may altogether 
obliterate the landmarks by which languages are distinguished. Till 
however, this is cleared up, I think that we must on other grounds 



The Ethnology of India. 39 

class the Kharwars, &c. with Kolarians rather than with Dravidians, 
Mr. Mather, quoting Mr. Jones, says that, passing on from the Khar- 
wars, he came to the 1 Oraons,' in whom he found "the difference from 
the Mirzapore Hill people to be so great, that they appeared to he 
quite another nation." In fact, the Oraons are now a good deal 
interposed between the Kharwars and Kolarian Moonclahs, but Col. 
Dalton also says that the Kharwars and Oraons, though in contact^ 
are very unlike one another in language, appearance, manners and 
customs. The Kharwars, he says, are not quite so African looking 
as the Oraons, but some of them seem to be not much better favoured, 
A long connection with the plains would best account for the adop- 
tions of the language and some of the manners of the plains-people 
by the Kharawars and Raj wars. And here the question has suggested 
itself to me, whether they may not perhaps be identified with the 
Cheroos and Bhurs, those aboriginal tribes whose dominion in the 
plain country to the north of these hills is matter of history, who 
seem certainly to have come from and to have gone to the country 
now inhabited by these tribes, and who from this point of their his- 
tory almost or wholly disappear. Buchanan seems to speak ambi- 
guously, sometimes classing Kharawars and Cheroos together, sometimes 
treating of them as separate. While mentioning the Cheroos as 
nearly extinct in the plains, he speaks of them as still existing in 
numbers in the high country within the hills. In the accounts of 
the latter country, on the other hand, I find no mention of either 
Cheroos or Bhurs under those names. Farther inquiry seems neces- 
sary. Our use of Roman letters applied to native names is very 
uncertain, and if we could suppose the C in Cheroo to be pronounced 
hard as in Cole, Cheroo would become Kheroo, and Kheroo would be 
not very different from the Khara of Kharawar (the ' war' is a mere 
termination), while Khara might again be connected with the name 
of the Kolarian Khorewahs already mentioned, and with the Koors, 
equally Kolarian, to be subsequently noticed. Again, the Bhurs are 
more commonly known as ' Rajbhurs may not Rajhbur have been 
corrupted into ' Rajwar V 

The present dominant position of the Kharwars in a considerable 
country would seem much to tally with the idea of their representing 
the tribes once so famous. Both the Rajas of Singrowlee and Jush- 



40 



The Ethnology of India. 



pore are Kliarwars, liowever they may claim an origin from Rajpoot 
foundlings, and they are the people who most affect what Col. 
Dalton calls < refining into Rajpoots.' Although many of them may 
have achieved a good deal of improvement in their blood and appear- 
ance, they are not originally a handsome race, for Col. Dalton expressly 
tells us that in the more remote parts, the Kharwars of Palamow, 
and especially the Bhogtahs, are very ugly and ill-favoured. Like 
the other aborigines, they have no proper caste and eat anything. 

I leave, for separate notice, a very numerous tribe all along the 
borders of Bengal, Orissa, and part of Bahar, called Bhuyas, whose 
■connection with the races above described is not clear. 

In this region of India, it only remains to mention one more Abori- 
ginal tribe, called Kaurs, found in the extreme west of the Chota-Nag- 
pore Agency about Korea, Oocleypore, and the adjoining parts of the 
territory of Nagpore proper, the Pergunnah of Korbah of Chatteesgurh. 
They are described as a very industrious thriving people, considerably 
advanced in civilisation. They now affect Hindoo traditions, pretend 
to be descended from the defeated remnants of the Kooroos who 
fought the Pandavas, worship Siva and speak Hindee, but in appear- 
ance they are ultra-aboriginal, very black, with broad noses and thick 
lips, and eat fowls, &c, bury most of their dead, and contemn 
Bramins ; so that their Hindooism is scarcely skin-deep. 

From the last mentioned point westward, through a broad tract of 
country, the plains are occupied by the ordinary Indian Arians, the 
hills and forests by the Gonds (who here in the centre of India meet 
the Hindustanees on the North, the Telingas on the South, and the 
Marattas on the West) ; and we do not again come to Kolarian 
Aborigines, till we get in fact to the West of India. There is then a 
hiatus, as respects the Kolarians, of four or five degrees of longitude, 
where by the advance of the conquering Gronds they have probably been 
split asunder. It somewhat singularly happens that the first people of 
this race whom we come to in the West, bear as nearly as possible the 
same name as the last we left in the East. The latter were called 
1 Kaurs.' In the Western Sautpooras, in the hills about Gawalghur 
near Ellichpore, and thence towards Indore, is a tribe called ' Coour' 
or Koor Koos. These people speak an undoubtedly Kolarian language. 
The name is sufficiently near to Gour to cause them to have been 



The Ethnology of India. 



41 



sometimes confounded with their neighbours, the Gonds, but the 
difference is clear. In the notes with which I have been favoured 
from Bombay, Major Keatinge mentions them as " a tribe of Gonds 
calling themselves Koor Koos," but he goes on to distinguish them 
from the Gonds, mentioning the geographical location of each, and 
adding that the two tribes keep themselves separate, do not intermix, 
and that each has a separate language of its own. He does not give 
particulars of the language, and it is from a paper on which I stumbled 
in an old number of the Society's Journal, and which does not appear 
to have been previously much noticed, that I have been able to 
identify this tribe with precision. Dr. Yoysey, writing at Ellichpore 
so long ago as 1821, also at first calls them Gonds, but he goes on to 
say that they are also called ' Coours,' and that the Gonds consider 
themselves a distinct tribe from the Coours and neither eat nor inter- 
marry with them. He then gives a small list of Coour words. This 
was taken long before Hodgson's vocabularies were published, and the 
two seem never to have been compared. I have compared Dr. Voysey's 
list with Hodgson's lists of words of the Kolarian tribes of Lurka 
Coles, Santals, &a. and find a remarkable coincidence. For instance, 



take the numerals. 

Coour. Hodgson's Coles, &c. 

1. Mea, Mi. 

2. Bariah, . ... Barria. 

3. Aphe, Apia. 

4. Aphoon, Apunia. 

5. Munea, Monaya. 

6. Turrume, Turia. 

7. Aya, Iya. 

8. Ilhar, Irlia. 

9. Arhe, Area. 

10. Gyl, Gel. 

And again. 

Coour. Hodgson, 
Man, Hoko, Ho. 

Water, Da, Dah. 

Fire, Singhel, SengeL 

Tree, Darao, Dam. 



42 The Ethnology of India. 

House, Oah, Oa. 

Mouth, Ah, A'. 

Eye, Meht, Met. 

In fact, of the first nine of Voysey's words which are also given by 
Hodgson, seven are identical, a circumstance very remarkable, seeing 
how far these illiterate tribes are separated from one another. None of 
the words correspond with the Dravidian synonyms, so there can be no 
doubt that we have traced the Kolarians so far. 

Immediately beyond the Koors, from Asseerghur westwards, we are 
in the Bombay Presidency. 

As I cannot ascertain that Mhars and Mangs and Ramooses 
now live as entirely separate tribes, I may at once say that, so far 
as my information goes, the Bombay Aborigines are (for my present 
purpose) all comprised in the two tribes of Koolees and Bheels. 
These tribes are scattered over a great portion of the Presidency, and 
in some parts, the Koolees especially, seem to live as a part of the 
general population. But the Koolees in part, and the Bheels more 
generally, are still found in portions of their original seats as distinct 
tribes, and they both seem to be numerous. Their name, position, 
and character seem to mark the Koolees as Kolarians. But beyond 
this, the more precise test of language is unfortunately wanting. I 
have not been able to find that these tribes have now any aboriginal 
languages of their own. They are generally said to speak dialects of 
the civilised languages of the neighbouring countries. In one or two 
places allusion is made to the existence or supposed existence of a 
Bheel language in remote jungles, but I have not found any precise 
indication respecting it. 

I was at first inclined to conjecture that the separation into two 
tribes of Koolee and Bheels, and perhaps the more predatory character 
of the latter, might point to a division of race ; that the Bheels might 
be Dravidians. I find, however, that the general opinion of those 
qualified to judge seems to tend to the belief that there is no essential 
difference between the two tribes. Forbes in his Has Mala says : 
" Koolees or Bheels, for though the former would resent the classi- 
fication, the distinctions between them need not be here noticed." 
Capt. Probyn says, " I think there is no actual difference between 
Koolees and Bheels. Their religion is the same." Mr. Ashburner : 



The Ethnology of India. 43 

" There is no real difference between Bheels and Koolees ; their habits, 
physiognomy and mode of life are the same, modified by local circum- 
stances." And the Rev. Mr. Dtmlop Moore says, " Koolees frequently 
many Bheel wives." Other authorities, however, say that they do 
not intermarry. They both seem to claim a northern and not a southern 
origin, pointing to the hills of Rajpootana and the north of Goozerat. 
The Bheels say that they were originally called Kaiyos ; Sir John 
3Ialcolm says that they are related to the Meenas of Rajpootana, and 
once ruled in the Jeypore country. Forbes again tells us that the 
Koolees were originally called Mairs ; while in Rajpootana, Col. Tod 
speaks of Mairs or Meenas as one race. 

The Rev. Mr. Bunlop says that, though these tribes speak the 
same languages as their neighbours, " certain words are universally 
recognised as peculiar to Koolees as well as Bheels." He only 
instances one word written in a character which I can read, and that 
is ' Bhoroo' or £ Bhooroo.' the head. As I write, I have turned up the 
word head in Hodgson's vocabularies, and find that the Kols, Santals, 
Bhumiz and Moondas use the word ' Bu,' 1 Buho' or ' Bohu' which 
seems to be the same word. The Dravidian words for head are entirely 
different. 

It would be in many ways very interesting and important to rescue 
any remains of aboriginal words or aboriginal dialects of these 
tribes, and especially to find whether among them can be traced any 
non- Aryan radicals of the Groozerattee, Maratta, and the Hindee dhrlects 
of Rajpootana. 

Though probably in the main of the same class and similar origin, 
the Koolees and Bheels are now quite distinct tribes, and there is 
this considerable difference that the Koolees have come much more 
into contact with Aryan blood and civilisation, are in appearance 
generally much more Hindooised than the others, and consider 
themselves altogether a higher class. As has been said, both tribes 
are now much scattered over many parts of the Presidency and in 
places a good deal intermixed, but their proper locale seems to be 
as follows. The Koolees are the Aborigines of Groozerat (where they 
now live in considerable number), and of the hills adjoining that 
Province. The hills east of G-oozerat are called 1 Kolwan' and seem 
to be the property of Koolee tribes, just as in the Chota-Nagpore 



44 The Ethnology of India. 

territory the country of the Lurka Coles is called " Kolhaii." The 
Bheels are the proper possessors of the hills farther in the interior 
and east of the Koolees, there occupying both the Santpoora and 
the Vyndia ranges, and extending into Eajpootana. In the latter 
direction and about the Vyndians some of the tribes claim to be 
crossed with Rajpoots, and these are called Beelalahs. The Bheels 
are numerous in Gandeish, and are found in some parts of the adjoining 
Deccan. They sometimes find their way to the Coast where they 
are stated to be known as 'Dooblas' or the " Kala Pooruj" or < black 
men.' The Koolees seem to be scattered down the Coast country 
nearly as far as Ooa, and north again into the ' Thurr' and the 
neighbourhood of Scinde, While the wilder Koolees of the hills 
are like the Bheels, the mass of more civilised Koolees are said to 
be not only fairer and more Caucasian in feature, but also more sly 
and cunning and less truthful. A large proportion of both races 
have been much diluted in point of ' aboriginally' of feature by 
intermixture, but the Bheels less than the others. Many of the 
Koolees live in villages and adopt some Hindoo practices. They are 
stated to average about 5 feet 3 inches in height. Though most of 
them are now quiet agriculturists and labourers, they were not always 
so. The wilder tribes of the race are still predatory, and Forbes 
mentions the Koolees as by far the most numerous of the arm-bearing 
castes who in former days, living in the hills between Goozerat and 
Eajpootana, disturbed the country. He describes them as of dimi- 
nutive stature, with eyes which bore an expression of liveliness and 
cunning, clothes few, arms bow and arrows, habits swift and active, 
bold in assault, but rapid in flying to the jungles, independent in 
spirit, robbers, averse to industry, addicted to drunkenness, and quar- 
relsome when intoxicated ; formidable in anarchy, but incapable of 
uniting among themselves. This description seems exceedingly well 
to apply to the wild Bheels of modern days, whom indeed Forbes 
classes with the Koolees. 

Many of the Bheels are so independent and so much apart in their 
own hills and jungles, that it seems very strange that they should 
have no language of their own ; I think that the search for such a 
language, or the remains of it, should not be abandoned without very 
careful inquiry. 



The Ethnology of India. 



45 



I have not been able to ascertain whether there are any of these 
aboriginal tribes in the Kattywar hills, or who are the aborigines 
of Kattywar. I have not met with any precise mention of them, 
Lassen in his map places Koolees (Kolas he calls them) in the centre 
of Kattywar. He had probably some authority for doing so, but 
more precise information on the point would be desirable. 

North of the Bombay country, in the Aravallee range running 
towards Ajmere, is the country of the Mairs or Mhairs, with whom I 
have said that the Koolees claim kindred, and whose name also suggests 
the question whether they may be related to the Maratta Mhars. 
Tod says that Mhair means Mountaineer, from ' Mem' mountain. 
The modern Mhairs are probably a very mixed race. Col. Dixon, 
who is avowedly enthusiastic in their favour, makes them out to be 
rather good-looking, and tells the usual story (as told by the chiefs 
to him) of their descent from Rajpoots. They admit to have taken 
a few Bheel and Meena women. It is probably the case, as Col. Dixon 
says, that for hundreds of years they have been recruited by Hinclu- 
stanee refugees and rascals of all sorts. Though now out of the way, 
it must be remembered that Ajmere was, under the emperors, one of 
the chief seats of Mahommeclan power. 

The Meenas constitute a large portion of the population of Raj- 
pootana, especially in the Jeypore country between Ajmere and DehlL 
I have said that they are supposed to be related to the Mhairs, and 
they are called the aborigines of the country, but I doubt if they 
are so in the sense in which I am now dealing with separate 
aboriginal tribes. In Upper India, out of their own country, these 
Meenas are principally known as dacoits ; and of those that I have 
seen in that capacity, my impression is, that they were not small and 
aboriginal-looking, but fine powerful men. I suspect that if ori- 
ginally a half-breed derived from aborigines, the Meenas are now 
members of the ordinary Indian society, and that Aryan features 
predominate in them. Farther information, however,-' is required. 

I am not aware of any aboriginal tribes in Buncllecund. In a 
recent Archaeological paper read at a meeting of the Society, mention 
was incidentally made of "the wild Sherrias" found about the 
southern sources of the Nerbudda, and I also find mention of a tribe 
called ' Naikras' in the hills of Oodeypore, said to be like the Bheels, 



46 The Ethnology of India. " 

but somewhat lower in the scale of humanity. I do not know whe- 
ther these are really sub-divisions of the Bheels or separate tribes. In 
fact there may be many remnants of tribes in the jungles of Central 
India yet undescribed. I have now, however, noticed all the aboriginal 
tribes of the hilly portions of the Indian Peninsula known to me, with 
the exception only of the Bhooyas of the borders of Bengal. 

In the plains, of course, we do not look to find separate aboriginal 
tribes, and those now classed as ' castes' will be afterwards noticed ; 
but before leaving the subject of Koolees or Kolaries I may mention 
an assertion of Col. Tocl that all the weaver caste throughout 
Hindustan are of this class, though they now call themselves ' J ulahas' 
or Julahees. I do not know what is the ground for this assertion, 
but the weavers who have not turned Mahommedans are certainly 
sometimes or generally known as ' Korees' and considered to be low in 
the social scale. 

There are no aboriginal tribes, of the character which I have been 
describing, in the Himalayas. The Kolees of the Simla hills and 
Domes of Kumaon are merely inferior castes living among the 
general population. Both in Kumaon and Nepal, there seems to be 
a sort of tradition or popular belief of the existence in some remote 
forests of a ' Ban-manush' or wild man of the woods, but I cannot 
find that any one has ever seen one of these creatures, or that his 
existence is really in any way authenticated. One can hardly say whe- 
ther the story points to the recent disappearance of the last remnants 
of an ancient race, or whether it is merely a nursery tale. 

It is not then in the Himalayas, but in the forests at their foot, 
that we must look for some aboriginal tribes. And here I must 
observe that I think the use of the term Sub- Himalayan by Hodg- 
son, and (following him) by most other authorities, leads to a good deal 
of misapprehension, from an Indian point of view at least. We are 
in the habit of considering the Simla hills, Kumaon, and Nepal to be 
part of the Himalayas (and with good reason too I think), but 
Hodgson calls everything below the Snowy Range " Sub-Himalayan," 
and classes as < Sub-Himalayan' people who live higher than the 
highest mountaineers in Europe, in the most precipitous mountains, 
8,000 or 10,000 feet high ; while the people really living under the 
hills are usually put in another class. I am now about to notice 



The Ethnology of India. 47 

tribes who have nothing whatever to do with the hills, but live in 
the forests and what is called the 1 Terai,' at the foot. No two 
climates and locations can be more dissimilar than those of the hills 
and the Terai, and no races are more distinct in their habits, manners, 
and aptitudes than the people of the hills and those of the jungle 
belt below. 

It may be generally said that there is no Terai or forest belt 
northwest of the Seharunpore district and the Dehra Dhoon; but 
thence eastward this belt stretches along the foot of the hills through 
Rohilcund, Oude, and the Bengal Frontier, up to Assam. A great 
part of it belongs to the Nepalese. A very interesting paper by Dr. 
Stewart on the Boksas, a forest tribe found in western Rohilcund 
and in part of the forests or Sewalik hills of Dehra Dhoon, was 
published in the Society's Journal last year. They are entirely con- 
fined to the forest tracts, where they enjoy a wonderful immunity 
from the effects of malaria. They never (says Dr. Stewart) settle more 
than two years on one spot, but after getting a little out of the soil, 
move to fresh locations. They are of short stature and spare habit, and 
in feature certainly Turanian of some sort, with broad faces, depressed 
noses, prognathous jaws, thick lips, and very scanty beard and 
moustaches, but in colour apparently not darker than the ordinary 
Hindoos of the country. They are fond of game and pigs, eat almost 
anything, have no caste, and are reputed to be very skilful in witch- 
craft. They have no separate language. • They are simple, inoffensive, 
and good-humoured, but very ignorant and indolent. Their culti- 
vation is very scanty and rude, but they also collect forest produce 
and wash for gold. They are supposed to be dying out. 

I have seen mention of another small and savage tribe in the 
Rohilcund Terai called " Rawats" or " Rajis and passing westward 
we come to a very important tribe, the ' Tharoos,' who in fact occupy all 
the Terai from eastern Rohilcund all along the frontiers of Oude and 
into G-oruckpore. They are in many respects very like the Boksas — in 
physical appearance and manners I should say extremely like — but 
they are much more industrious, and altogether a larger, more settled, 
and, one may say, less savage tribe. They, like the Boksas, keep 
exclusively to the Terai and forest, living where no one else can live. 
They are shy and timid, but frank and truthful, when you get hold of 



48 The Ethnology of India. 

them, and are very good cultivators in their own simple way. They 
are not particularly dark, and, in addition to the ordinary breadth and 
flatness of face, have a good deal of the Chinese-looking form of eye ; 
so that it is difficult from appearance to say, whether they really 
belong to the Negrito, or to the Indo-Chinese stock. The fact is that 
though no two races can be more unlike one another than the slim, 
black, tangled-haired Negrito, and the stout, fair, lank haired Thibetan, 
yet when we come to half-breeds, the difference may not be so great. 
When the colour is softened or heightened, and the size increased or 
decreased to that of the ordinary Hindoo, and the hair reduced to 
civilised limits, there is the same appearance of breadth and flatness of 
face, and these latter characteristics are more apparent at a glance than 
any distinction between prognathous and pyramidal skulls. It would 
seem too that the Chinese peculiarity of eye is caused by the broad 
cheek bone common to both races, and perhaps it may be that 
while the eye being sunk deeper in the Negro and Negrito, and more 
covered by a more fleshy form of face its form is not so apparent, in 
the half-breed it is brought out, and the skin tightened by the high 
cheek-bone shows the Chinese-looking form of eye. I have noticed 
some of the Ohatwals on the borders of Bengal and Behar, who looked 
not unlike G-oorkas. Thus then it becomes difficult to distinguish 
those tribes, on the northern and eastern frontiers, whose blood may be 
supposed to have become a good deal mixed by long contact with 
other races, and whose colour ^nay have been softened by the cool, moist 
and shady climate of the Northern Terai. 

I must also say that I think Hodgson has somewhat contributed to 
mix up the two races in our ideas, for in his enthusiasm to establish a 
connection between his Tamulians and the eastern races, he scarcely 
attempts to distinguish them, and classes as Tamulians, Bodos, Dhimals, 
&c. of whose connection with the Aborigines of the South of India 
there does not seem to be the slightest evidence in language, and 
who in appearance are as different as can be. 

To return to the £ Tharoos ;' as I said their appearance might leave 
doubt of their origin, and unfortunately they are not known to have any 
language of their own. Those with whom we have come more imme- 
diately in contact (including all those in eastern Rohilcund) certainly 
now speak Hindee, but the tribe is so large and important, that it 



The Ethnology of India. 4& 

would be, I think, desirable not to give up without farther inquiry the 
attempt to find a Tharoo language, though it will be more difficult 
now that, by the transfer of the Oude Terai, the great mass of them, 
and all those least mixed with Hindustanees, are Nepal subjects. 

In other respects the habits and manners of the Boksas and Tharoos 
certainly point rather to an Indian than a Thibetan origin. I saw 
something of the Tharoos before they were annexed to Nepal ; and 
their general style suggests a good deal of resemblance to the Santals for 
instance. Mr. Robert Drummond, who has served both in Pillebheet 
and in Central India, and who knew the Tharoos well, tells me that 
in many ways they remind him very much of the Aboriginal tribes of 
the Central hills. They have the same simple ways and the same 
religion of Bhoots and familiar spirits. He also mentions a singular 
circumstance, that on looking over a map of the hill country of Bhau- 
gulpore (now called the Santal Pergunnahs), he was struck by the. 
occurrence of many names which he had supposed to be peculiar to the 
Tharoos. 

The claim of the Boksas to Rajpoot origin is of course ridiculous, 
but it is clear that all their traditions point to the south and south- 
west as the country of their origin, not to the northern hills. These 
tribes have in fact little intercourse with and no known congeners in 
the hills. The Boksas and Western Tharoos are separated from the 
Thibetan tribes by a great tract of very difficult country occupied by 
Arians ; and though the Eastern Tharoos are nearer to Nepalese races 
who show Thibetan blood, it seems hardly probable that inhabitants 
of the hills should be driven out into the Forest below (of which the 
hill-men have a great horror) ; while, that Aboriginal Indians should be 
driven from the plains to the neighbouring jungles, would be probable 
enough. I am inclined to think that the Tharoos and Boksas are 
probably not Thibetan, farther than the accession of refugees and others 
from Nepal may have introduced a little of that blood. Dr. Stewart 
suggests the possibility that they may be akin to the Indo-Chinese 
races who occupy the lowlands near the Berhampooter ; but though 
that may be possible, it seems to be a long way for emigrant tribes to 
find their way up to the Dehra Dhoon in countries where, for so many 
hundred miles, there is no trace of their congeners. On the whole, it 
seems more probable that they are Aboriginal Indians a good deal 



50 Tlie Ethnology of India. 

diluted. I have not heard of the Tharoos serving as labourers, hut if they 
are akin to the Dhangar Coolees now so much sought after, seeing their 
immunity against malaria, they would he very valuable to any one who 
could induce them to emigrate. As yet, however, they are very shy. 

From Goruckpore eastward in the Nepal Terai and along the 
Frontiers of Bengal, I cannot learn that there are any Aboriginal 
tribes till we come to the neighbourhood of Sikkim and Kooch Behar. 
Those whom I have asked knew of none, and it is probable that if 
there were any, Hodgson would have mentioned them. Dr. Campbell 
of Darjeeling speaks generally of the population of the Nepal Terai as 
composed of a most varied assemblage of bastard Hindus. 

The Kooch Behar people have become so Hinduised, that their 
original character cannot be distinguished with certainty. They call 
themselves " Rajbansees," as I think do several Hinduised Aboriginal 
tribes. 

About this parallel we come upon the Meches or Mechis who form 
the chief population of the forests and Doars at the foot of the 
Sikkim and Bhootan hills, and a few of whom have recently settled in 
the extreme eastern portion of the Nepal Terai. I understand that 
these people are the same as the Bodos of Hodgson, who are of 
an Indo-Chinese family. I shall rank them and other similar tribes 
as c Borderers/ and now only notice them for the purpose of comr 
parison. They are described as very Mongolian or Indo-Chinese in 
feature, fairer than the Hindus and of a yellow tinge, taller and 
larger than the Nepalese cultivators, addicted to spirits and to smoking 
ppium. They make small and temporary clearances in the forest and 
are proof against malaria. In an industrial point of view they are 
evidently much inferior to the Tharoos. 

Dr. Campbell incidentally mentions among the lowland neighbours 
pf the Mechis a tribe inhabiting similar tracts called 4 Thawas' whom 
I have not seen mentioned elsewhere. They seem (so far as one 
can gather from the slightest notices) to be more industrious and 
settled than the Mechis. Dr. Campbell seems to speak of them as 
a different race. It would be interesting to know whether these 
Thawas may not possibly be related to the Tharoos. 

Also among the neighbours of the Mechis are the Garrows, whose 
main habitat is the hill country just within the bend of the Berhain- 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



51 



pooter as it sweeps round from Assam into Bengal, the extreme 
western portion of the range which separates Sylhet, &c. from 
Assam. More to the east are the Cossya hills, to the west those of 
the Grarrows. "While all the tribes of the eastern hills are Indo- 
Chinese, I am inclined to suspect that the Grarrows alone are Indian 
Aborigines, more or less mixed it may be. They seem to be quite 
distinct and different from the other tribes of the neighbourhood, and 
several officers, to whom I have talked, agree in thinking them more 
in the style of Coles and Bheels than of Indo-Chinese. I have not 
found any very exact description of them, but gather that they are 
small and dark, savage and troublesome. That they should belong 
to the Aboriginal races of India, is prima facie by no means impro- 
bable, seeing that their hill country is, as the crow flies, scarcely more 
than 150 miles distant from that of the Santals and Rajmehalees, as 
may be seen by a glance at any map. There is a kind of straight 
between the eastern and western hills through which the Granges and 
Berhanipooter run before expanding in the broader Delta of Southern 
Bengal. 

The little that is known of the language of the Grarrows has not 
sufficed to connect them with any of the Aboriginal tribes mentioned 
by me, but it also seems to show that it is radically different from 
the surrounding Indo-Chinese dialects. It seems especially desirable 
to know something more of the Grarrows and their language. 

I have kept to the last the Bhooyas or Bhooians, because they 
seem to belong to both sides of Bengal, to West Bengal and Orissa on 
one side, and to Assam on the other. I have not met with any de- 
tailed account of their position in Assam, but I imagine that there 
can be no better authority than Col. Dalton who intimately knows 
both Provinces, and he, while describing them in the western hills, 
distinctly states that they were once the dominant race in Assam. 
It is always necessary to be cautious in dealing with names of this 
sound, since, as I have already mentioned, ' Bhoomea' means '' man of 
the soil,' and I believe that the word earth or soil also takes the form 
Bui. The Bhooyas have no immediate connection (that is looking 
only to the name) with either the Bhumiz or the Boyars. But 
Col. Dalton no doubt looks farther than this ; and indeed he goes on 
to notice a considerable connection between Assam and the west both 



52 TJie Ethnology of India. 

in races and in language. The Bhooyas in the west seem to "be 
nnmerons. They appear to be the original occupants of much of the 
lower country to the south of the Chota-Nagpore plateau, great part of 
Singbhoom and Bonai, and the borders of Orissa. From a portion of 
their country they have been partly driven and partly they are dominated 
over by Coles, themselves probably impelled south and east by pres- 
sure from the north and west. They are still very numerous in all 
the districts and petty states hereabout s, and are found more or less 
all the way across the lower hill -country to the borders of Behar. 
Col. Dalton calls them a dark complexioned race, with rather high 
cheekbones, but not otherwise peculiar. They have no language of 
their own, but speak Oorya on the Ooriah borders, Bengalee on the 
borders of Bengal, and Hinclee farther north. They are now some- 
what Hinduised, but have still priests of their own and traces of an 
old religion, which seems even down to recent times to have included 
human sacrifices. Major Tickell speaks of the Aboriginal Bhooians 
who preceded the Coles in lower Singbhoom as " an inoffensive 
simple race, but rich in cattle and industrious cultivators." The 
descriptions of Col. Dalton and Major Tickell seem to suggest a 
resemblance in appearance to the Ooryahs, among whom high cheek 
bones seem to prevail with good features and straight hair. The 
Bhooyas whom I have seen in the hills towards the Bahar border 
seemed to have a larger dash of the black Aboriginal type. Seeing 
how far these Bhooyas are spread to the west, I was curious to know 
whether they might be related to the Buis, a tribe of Telengana and 
Central India who serve all over the centre, south, and west as 
palanquin bearers and domestic servants, and from whose name is, I 
believe, the most authentic derivation of the widespread word 
' Boy' as applied to a dark servant. Travelling from Nagpore towards 
Jubbulpore I observed that I changed the Buis of Central India for 
the Kahars of Hindoostan. Col. Dalton did not know whether there 
was any connection between Bhooyas and Buis. But quite recently, 
making a trip through a part- of the Chota-Nagpore country, I found 
that the palanquin was carried by Bhooyas there and below the hill 
country till I got close to Gya, and I ascertained that they had no 
connection with the Hindoostanee Kahars by whom they were then 
relieved, but were considered to be a wholly different race. I cannot 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



58 



help thinking that the Bhooya palanquin bearers of Chota-Nagpore 
may be the same as the Buis of Nagpore Proper. At any rate it 
might be worth inquiring. These Bhooyas or Bhooians have been 
reputed to be the Aborigines of Bengal, and if that be so, it would 
quite account for their being found both in Orissa in the west and 
in Assam on the east. The difficulty is that there seem to be no 
such people now in Bengal, nor have I been able to identify them 
with any caste under another name. If, however, one travels in a 
palanquin from the Chota-Nagpore country into Bengal or Orissa, 
the bearers will be relieved not by Kahars as in Hindoostan, but by 
Grwallas or cow-keepers. These Grwallas do the work of palanquin- 
bearing and domestic service in Bengal, functions not performed by 
G-wallas so far as I know in any other part of India. An Aheer or 
up-country Ghvala would never dream of such work. In fact the 
Grwallas in Bengal take the place of the Buis or Boys of the centre 
and south of India. They are now the most numerous Hindoo 
caste in Bengal and especially in Orissa. As I said, Major Tickell 
describes the original Bhooians as rich in cattle. May not the 
Hindoos have adopted them and turned them into Grwallas ? I 
should also however mention that the lowest or sweeper class are called 
I understand in Bengal " Buimals," but I have not been able to 
ascertain the derivation of that word. 

The Bengalees are certainly in many respects different from any 
other people of India, and if the Bhooyas are the Aboriginals of a 
great part of Bengal, we may the more readily believe that they are 
in fact different from the Coolees and Dravidians who have gone to 
compose the Hindoostanees and Southerners respectively. Who they 
are, and where they came from, are questions which open out a wide 
field of inquiry. Can any Aboriginal language or words spoken by 
them be traced ? may they have any dash of more eastern blood ? 
Is the mode of carrying palanquins rather a Chinese than an Arian 
fashion ? 

If we knew something more of the Grarrows and the G^arrow lan- 
guage, they might possibly supply a link in the history of Bengal. 

Another race mentioned by Col. Dalton, as found both in the West 
and in Assam, are the Kolitas, whose name might suggest some 
relation to Coolees ; but they seem to be now considered rather high 



54 TJie Ethnology of India. 

caste and good looking Hindoos, so the name is probably not the 
same. Is every direction, however, there is room for inquiry. 

One word regarding a people in another quarter who have been 
classed with the Indian Aborigines, the Brahuis of the higher parts 
of Belochistan near Khelat, &c. These people are set down as allied 
to the Dravidians upon, I think, the slightest possible evidence, but it is 
one of those things that, having once got into print, is in the absence 
of farther information repeated again and again, till it seems an 
established fact. Dr. Caldwell, in his amiable enthusiasm for his 
beloved Dravidians, and seeking to establish for them an aristocratic 
pedigree, without acknowledging obligation to the northern Hindoos, 
seizes upon the Brahuis as the link to connect them with the more 
northern nations and goes somewhat into the matter. 

The Brahuis are described as a stout, squat, somewhat flat- 
faced people, fair, with hair and beards often brown if not red. That 
they have indications of some Turanian element both in feature and 
speech, may be at once admitted, using the word Turanian in its widest 
sense ; but for the rest anything in greater contrast to the slim black 
Dravidian Aborigines, it is impossible to imagine. They are very 
remote from any Dravidian tribe, the nearest being the G-onds. Their 
language is not supposed to show any affinity to the Kolarians. 

On the other hand, in one direction we have not far to seek for an 
explanation of the Turanian element in the features of the Brahuis. 
The Hazarehs of the hill country near Grhuznee and Candahar have it 
in a more marked degree, and are without doubt of Mongolian blood. 
They seem to be in many ways like the Brahuis, and we are told 
that at one time they possessed the country on the Khelat side of 
Candahar, and were nearer than they now are to the Brahuis. That 
the latter have some of their blood, or may even be a branch of them 
driven to the hills by Belochees or Hindoos, would seem prima facie 
the most probable thing in the world. It is then only by the test of 
language that any Dravidian connection can be assigned to the 
Brahuis, and in the case of people otherwise so dissimilar and so dis- 
tant, the linguistic evidence ought to be very strong, to satisfy us. I 
have been unable to find a paper giving a list of Brahui words said 
to have been published by this Society, but Dr. Caldwell seems to 
sum up all the evidence on the subject. He admits that " the Brahui 



The Ethnology of India. 55 

language, considered as a whole, is derived from the same source as the 
Punjabee and Scindee" (in which no one ever suspected a Dra vidian 
connection), but he goes on to show that the Brahui has also a Dravi- 
dian element in it. Now there are scarcely any two languages in 
which here and there words of similar meaning and similar sound may 
not be found, but so far as the vocabulary goes, Dr. Caldwell's list 
seems to show that he must have been very hard put to it. 1 Khaff/ 
the ear, and 1 pid,' the belly, seem to me at least as near to the 
Hindoostanee i han' and 1 pet' as to the Dravidian ' kadu' and ' pir* 
or 1 hir.' 1 Kat,' a bedstead is, I think, distinctly a Hindee or Punjabee 
word. e Dir,' water, seems to me as near to the Kolarian 1 dah' as to 
the Dravidian c nir J i Ae' or ' ayi,' a mother or nurse, and ' pussie,' 
a cat, are words of world-wide use. 

So also the pronoun 1 ni' or 1 nim' thou or you, appears in some 
shape in every dialect not purely Arian, from Australia to northern 
Siberia and from Japan to Finland. I really cannot find above 6 or 8 
words which Dr. Caldwell shows to be especially like Dravidian words, 
and to make out these, he picks and chooses from every one of the 
different Dravidian dialects and accepts some rather distant resem- 
blances as 'pah' to go, Tamil 1 pogu.' This much seems to me to 
prove nothing whatever. 

Again, take his grammatical resemblances. Some seem to be too 
wide^pplying to many other languages, and others too minute. The 
use of postpositions and the want of comparatives and superlatives in 
adjectives is equally a coincidence with Hindoostanee and many other 
languages, neighbours of the Brahui on one side. The expression of 
gender by separate words and of plurals by postfixes denoting plurality 
is equally common to many other languages, including the neighbour 
of the Brahui on the other side, the Persian, e. g. ' nar-gow' a ' male 
cow,' and Aspahan 1 horses' The genitive in ' na' seems just as like to 
the Hindoostanee and Punjabee 1 ha' or ' da' as to the Tamilian ' maJ 
The dative-accusative in { e' is a familiar Hindoostanee or Punjabee 
form, thus instead of 1 3fujh-Jco do' Give me, it is constantly ' Mujhe 
do,' and 1 Use maro' beat him, especially with the Punjabees. So also 
■ ten,' said by Dr. Caldwell to mean ' self in Brahui, seems very like the 
same syllable used to give precision in Hindoostanee as " Use-ten do," 
which I should translate 1 give to him himself.' At any rate ' ten' is 
found nearer at hand than the Dravidian 1 tan,' 



56 



The Ethnology of India. 



The copulative 1 u y 1 and,' most people would think palpable 
Persian, and not go all the way to the Canarese for it. 

It conies then in my view to this that the only real appearance of 
analogy to the Dravidian class of languages in particular (as distin- 
guished from the body of Turanian languages in general) is reduced 
to two numerals. In Brahui neither ' one' nor 1 four' and upwards in 
the least correspond with Dravidian numerals, but the two numbers 
■ two' and ' three' as given by Dr. Caldwell do seem similar. He gives 
the Brahui two, * iraf and three, ' musitf or ' muoit' which bear com- 
parison with the Dravidian two, 1 eradu,' 1 iranduj 1 randu] i ranu 1 
and three, 'mum 1 1 mudu,' 1 mundu,' 1 munnarj ' munu? 

The Brahui one ' asit' seems very like the Pehlevi { achat 1 and 
the Brahui irat may come from the Pehlevi 1 tareiri 1 two, the Cauca- 
sian ' ieru' and the Georgian 1 ori.' If so the ' three' would be the 
only tie to the Dravidians left, and that is not very close. The 
ground of induction seems insufficient to connect such dissimilar 
people. My impression is, that if, instead of saying that the Brahui 
language is mainly Punjabee with a Dravidian element, Dr. Caldwell 
had said that it is mainly Arian (Indo-Persic) with a Turanian 
element, that would have been more correct. At any rate in so 
important a matter fuller inquiry is necessary. 

THE MODERN INDIANS. * 

I commence with the Bramins. 

It is well-known that the Bramins as Priests are a necessary part 
of every Hindu society, and as Priests the.y are to be found wherever 
there are Hindus. In that character then it would be unnecessary 
to my purpose more particularly to trace them, for with their reli- 
gious sects and tenets I do not deal. I shall only trace them for 
Ethnological purposes through the countries in which they form an 
important part of the general secular population. In fact, far from 
being restricted to the character of Priests, they are one of the 
most numerous castes in India, and probably that which follows the 
greatest variety of avocations. On the whole I should say that they are 
less prejudiced than any other of those whom I call full-blown or High 
Hindus. At any rate, whether it be that their character as keepers and 
expounders of the Law gives them greater licence, or that their intellect 



The Ethnology of India. 



57 



is more varied and their necessities greater, they do in various places 
and under various circumstances turn their hands to very many odd 
jobs as it were. Throughout Hindustan they have almost entirely 
lost that function of Clerks and Bureaucrats of the community 
which they still retain to a great extent in other parts of India ; and 
it will he as members of the ordinary agricultural populations that I 
shall most deal with them. 

Beginning from the north, we first meet with the Bramins in that 
quarter to which all their traditions point, within the hills north of 
the Punjab. The first Indians encountered by a traveller from 
Central Asia would be these Bramins of this extreme North-West 
corner, occupying both the valley of Kashmir and the hills imme- 
diately to the west and south-west of it. 

Kashmir is a Bramin country. The lower classes have long been 
converted to Mahommedanisin, but they seem to be ethnologically 
identical with the Bramins, and tradition also asserts that they are 
of the same race. At the present day no other Hindu caste save 
the Bramin is known, nor is there any trace (so far as I could find) 
that there ever was any other in the country. The Bramin popula- 
tion is numerous, but it would seem as if, while the illiterate- 
multitude adopted the religion of the ruling power, the better edu- 
cated and superior class maintained their own tenets ; and at this day 
the Bramins (or Pandits, as they are usually called) form quite a sort 
of aristocracy. They are almost all educated and exceedingly clever, 
and so, being to a great degree above manual labour, they are an 
excessive and somewhat oppressive Bureaucracy, which not only has „ 
ruled Kashmir under every successive government, but sends out 
colonies to seek a livelihood throughout Northern India. The Kash- 
mir Bramins are quite High-Arian in the type of their features, very 
fair and handsome, with high chiselled features, and no trace of 
intermixture of the blood of any lower race. It may be partly race 
and partly occupation, but they have certainly a greater refinement 
and regularity of feature than the Affghans and others of a rougher 
type ; with, however, a less manly-looking physique and a colour less 
ruddy and more inclining to a somewhat sallow fairness. The high 
nose, slightly aquiline, but by no means what we call Jewish or 
Nat -cracker, is a common type. Raise a little the broAV of a Greek 



58 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



statue, and give the nose a small turn at the bony point in front of 
the bridge (so as to break the straightness of line), you have then the 
model type of this part of India, to be found both in the living men and 
in the statues dug up in the Peshawar valley. There are also a good 
many straight noses, and some varieties as in all places, but much less 
departure from an ordinary handsome standard than in most countries. 
The figure of the ordinary working Kashmeeree is strong and athletic. 
But none of them are martial, and the Bramins are in this respect 
no exception. They rule by the brain and the pen, and not by the 
sword. It is this character that has gained them the favour of so many 
rulers of a different faith. Kashmere long belonged to the Cabul 
kingdom, but it was never in any degree colonised by Affghans, and is 
singularly free from any modern intermixture of foreign races. The 
fact seems to be that the valley never belonged to the Affghan nation, 
but was always retained as a Crown Appanage of the kings, who 
were very jealous of admitting into it subjects whom they might find 
it difficult to turn out again, and much preferred to govern through 
the Pandits. Others have to a great extent followed the same policy. 

From a Hindu point of view, the Kashmir Bramins do not rank 
well. As they are Priests to no one but themselves, they are 
necessarily much more secular than Bramins who among other 
Hindus claim to be a priestly class, while they eat meat and are 
altogether loose in their observances, to an extent which makes them 
very far short of the modern Hindu standard. They are in fact not 
recognised among the modern Divisions of Indian Bramins, belonging 
neither to the 5 Grours nor to the 5 Dravidas, but forming a class 
apart. I have alluded to their attempt to claim the blood of all the 
Bramins higher in the sacerdotal scale, and suggested that it is 
more probable that the latter have sprung from and (in their sense) 
improved upon the Kashmeerees. In fact, the founder of the latter 
(Kashiyupa who drained the lake, colonised the valley, gave his name 
to Kashgar and Kashmere and to the people originally called Kashas 
or Kassias,) is still recognised by the Bramins and Hindus as the 
first of the seven Rishis, and even far away down on the west coast 
of India, the Bramins in general still trace their descent to Kashiyupa. 
I shall afterwards notice the name Kash as Khas occurring again and 
again in other parts of India, in a way which requires explanation. 



The Ethnology of India. 



59 



The Kashraeeree Pandits are known all over Northern India as a 
very clever and energetic race of office-seekers. As a body they 
excel in acuteness the same number of any other race with whom 
they come in contact. Probably they are in no respect inferior to 
the Maratta Bramins, but they have not in Hindustan the same ad- 
vantage as the latter have had in their own country among inferior 
races. The Kashmeerees, as foreigners among energetic races, have a 
much harder struggle, and though they get a good share of good 
things, they are nowhere dominant, nor have they usually risen to 
such high stations as many Maratta Bramins. The most conspicuous 
man whom I recollect was Raja Denonath, Ranjeet Sing's Financier and 
in some respects Chief Minister. Although the Kashmeerees seldom 
find their way as far as Calcutta, it is somewhat singular that in 
Bengal the first native to attain very high office is a man of this 
race, viz., Shamboonath Pandit, Judge of the High Court. Almost 
all the secular Pandits use the Persian character freely ; they are 
perfectly versatile, and, serving abroad, will mount a horse, gird on a 
sword, and assume at a push a semi- military air. 

The Kashmir language is separate and distinct, and the dress, 
manners, and fashions of the Kashmeerees mark them as in every way 
a distinct people. Of the language we only know that it contains a 
very large proportion of Sanscrit. The Institutions of the people 
have nothing of the democratic character. 

In the hills also, between Kashmir and the Punjab, Bramins 
occupy the van (or perhaps we should call it the rear) of the 
Indian race to the west, though they have abandoned their Hindoo 
religion and become partly Mahommedans and partly Sikhs. They 
are in habits, language, and manners quite different from the Kash- 
meerees, and seem now to belong to a different nation. Their 
language is a dialect of the Punjabee (a very Pracrit tongue and cer- 
tainly not borrowed from any Mahommedan race), while they are good 
soldiers and altogether more Punjabees than Kashmeerees. Beyond 
the Jhelum, the hill frontier is occupied by a tribe called Bambas, now 
Mahommedans, but originally Bramins ; while on this side the Jhelum 
the hills are shared with other races by a numerous tribe of Bramin- 
Sikhs. The position of these men is curious. They became Sikhs 
long before the extension of Sikh power to those regions, and in a 



The Ethnology of India. 



much more complete sense than most modern Sikhs, abandoning all 
pretence of Hindoo religion and adopting to the full the Sikh 
reformer's tenets. Indeed they were converted during Mahommedan 
rule, and when 1 Sikh' was really a religious rather than a political 
name. The fact probably is, that they found the country too hot for 
Bramins, but did not care to become Mahommedans, so adopted the 
alternative of becoming Sikhs, and so free from the trammels of caste. 
These men are very useful soldiers and servants, especially under 
Sikh rule. A good many of them have been introduced into Kashmir 
as a sort of military colonists, partly by a Hindu governor under the 
Affghans, and partly by the Sikh rulers ; but they remain quite apart 
from the Kashmir Bramins. One of the best native officers in the 
Punjab force, who is himself of this class, told me that the Bambas 
are without donbt Bramins under a corrupted name. He says that 
to this clay the Sikh Bramins and Bambas exchange cakes on the 
occasion of certain ceremonies (births, funerals, &c. I think), and that 
there is no doubt that they are of the same stock. I believe that it 
certainly is so. It seems to be a common practice in India to give to 
tribes who have departed from the faith or mixed the blood of their 
ancestors, names derived from their original tribal names. Thus half- 
civilised Bheels are called 1 Bheelalahs ;' Mahommedan Rajpoots are 
called ££ Hangars ;" a tribe of bastard Bramins to be afterwards noticed 
(in Benares and Bahar) ' Bamuns' or ' Babhans.' 

The Bramins of the frontier hills are, I think, even handsomer 
than the Kashmeerees. To my view, the people in general of those 
hills are the handsomest of the human race. 

Descending from the Himalayas, there are some Bramins near 
the foot of the hills. Except a few priests, I do not think that 
they are found beyond the Indus, but they are, I understand, pretty 
numerous in part of the Rawal Pindee district. South of the Salt Range, 
in the plains, they are well nigh overwhelmed by the strong flow of 
Rajpoots and Jats (advancing, as I believe, at a later period and from 
another direction). The Bramins either never occupied the plains 
of the Punjab to the south-west, or they have been driven from that 
country. Even nearer the hills they are not exceedingly numerous. But 
still in that fertile and pleasant strip under the hills we have, among 
other races, villages of agricultural Bramins in the districts of Sealkot, 



TJie Ethnology of India. 



61 



Goordaspore &c, in the valleys of the broken country between 
Hosheearpore and Kangra, and in parts of Umballa district and the 
adjoining Simla hills ; and thus we, as it were, mark the trail of the 
Bramin race in its progress southwards from the hills of Kashmir to 
the banks of the sacred Saroostee or Saraswatee and the famous 
field of the Gulcheter at Tanessur close to the Grand Trunk Road, 
some thirty miles south of Umballa. 

Here also the Bramin population in the country is not specially 
numerous. Other races have swept over the scene. But lower down 
the course of the Saraswatee, where it may be traced through the 
now somewhat desolate countries of Mar war 1 and Jessulmere, the 
Bramins are still numerous. Where the low and comparatively 
moist tracts, in which the river once ran, still admit of cultivation, 
the Saraswatee Bramins are found very industrious and good culti- 
vators, who claim to have occupied the country before Jats and 
Rajpoots became dominant. There is found (at Pokhar) the only 
temple in India still dedicated to the worship of Brama the Father. 
The town of ' Palli' seems to be a Bramin centre, and thence come a 
race of mercantile Bramins called 1 Palliwals.' 

Sir John Malcolm also mentions the Marwarree or Saraswatee Bramins 
as forming a considerable proportion of the most industrious cultivators 
in Malwa. And following the Saraswatee down to the Indus, we find 
that (some southern immigrants excepted) they are also the Bramins 
of Scinde, but said to be much looked down on by more orthodox 
southerners as eaters of meat and altogether little advanced Bramins. 

The settlement on the banks of the Saraswatee is a well-known 
stage of Hindu history. Here the Bramins came in contact with 
other races, castes were recognised, and early Hinduism became 
literary and historical. But the extreme caste and religious system, 
the full-blown High-Hinduism of the Gangetic Bramins, was not 
yet. The descendants of those who continued to dwell on the 
Saraswatee seem to have much kept to the tenets of their forefatheis. 
They are separate from the Kashmeerees and have a place among 
the recognised divisions of Indian Bramins, but their more advanced 
brethren give them the lowest place in the orthodox scale, and in 
their native country they chiefly shine by those simple and agricul- 
tural virtues in which their remote ancestors also probably excelled. 



02 



The Ethnology of India. 



It is a curious problem, that lost river, the Saraswatee. The evi- 
dent river-traces all the way down to the Indus, ancient Hindu 
history, and the universal traditions of the people of those regions, 
all go to make it as certain as any historical fact can be, that the 
Saraswatee was once a fine river, and that the countries through which 
it flowed (now for the most part desert and barren) were once well- 
watered and green. No mere diminution in the amount of rainfall, 
caused by denudations or the like, could have occasioned such as 
change. The outer range of the Himalaya runs all the way from 
the Sutlej to the Jumna without a break, and the tributaries of the 
Saraswatee receive but the outer drainage of the slope a few miles 
wide. No doubling or trebling of the rainfall could make any of 
these considerable perennial streams ; nothing in fact short of a 
change of elevation of the ridges to the extent of several thousand 
feet would render possible any outlet in this quarter of the drainage 
of the interior of the Himalayas. The Saraswatee itself is now not 
a stream at all, but an absolutely dry bed, which is only filled by 
surface flooding in the height of the rains. The high embankments 
on the present Grand Trunk Road, on the Umballa side of Thanessur 
or Peeplee, mark the levels, and show the hollow where a great river 
once flowed. I have long had a theory that, in truth, the stream now 
called the Jumna once flowed in this channel. The present channel 
of the Saraswatee points upwards to the point where the Jumna 
issues from the hills, and ends in a confused drainage within 2 or 3 
miles of that almost natural channel in which the Western Jumna 
Canal (running more like a river than a canal) carries the Jumna 
water in a course which eventually leads it lower down into the very 
bed of the Saraswatee. The Jumna at its first issue from the hills 
runs in a course which points directly towards the Saraswatee and 
the lower Indus, and the moment you cross, to the west, the high 
bank (which is accumulated along the course of most rivers), the whole 
of the drainage of the country is to the Saraswatee and not to the 
Jumna. In fact the bed of the Jumna is higher than that of the 
Saraswatee. Sir P. Cautley was anxious, by a change of the Jumna 
Canal, to carry it directly into the Saraswatee channel, and I believe 
that to divert the whole river would be a work within easy reach of 
modern engineering. May it not then be that nature caused a change 



The Ethnology of India. 



63 



the other way, that the stream now called the J umna then belonged 
to the Saraswatee, but that those hill torrents from the Sewalik, 
bringing down masses of sand and earth, raised between them and the 
main stream a sort of James and Mary which eventually caused 
the latter to break away to the south-east ? If the stream moved, 
most of the Hindus would probably move forward too and find -them- 
selves in the G-angetic valley. 

The Saraswatee Bramins are also called (in the south at least) 
" Kashastalee" a name which seems still to mark the time when they 
were considered to be of Kashmeeree or Kasha origin. In fact there 
seem to be several stages in the history of Braminism. The oldest 
of the race may be the people of the upper hills who date from a time 
altogether prior to Hinduism. The Kashmeerees were a civilised 
and literary Braminical people not yet fully Hindu. The Saraswatee 
Bramins (those Kasha settlers in the plains of India) were the earliest 
and most simple and pure Hindus of Vedic faith, that faith being 
now worked out and developed ; those of the Granges and the rest of 
India are in various phases the types of modern Hinduism. 

From the Gulcheter clown to Dehli and in the country about Dehli ? 
Bramin villages are scattered about, but the Bramins cannot be said 
to constitute a very large proportion of the agricultural population. 
Wherever they are found in this country, they are capital cultivators, 
quiet, industrious, intelligent ; there is no better population, and the 
women work as well as the men. It was remarked by the fugitives 
from Dehli at the time of the mutiny, that whenever they came to 
a G-oojar village, they were always plundered ; whenever they came to 
a Bramin vilkge, they were always kindly treated ; while at any other 
village their treatment was uncertain. These Bramins too are, I 
should think, descendants of the Saraswatee Bramins. Some of the 
less pure agricultural Bramins of these parts are called \ Tugas' or 
1 G-our Tugas.' South of Dehli, in the Jyepore country, Bramins seem 
to be numerous, but I have not been able to ascertain if they are of the 
same branch. In the Seharunpore district too there are a good many 
Bramins of secular occupations, besides the priests of Hardwar. 

Sir H. Elliott has remarked on the difficulty of accounting for the 
fact that all the Dehli country is occupied by 1 Grour' Bramins. They 
can hardly, he thinks, have come from Gour in Bengal, from which 



64 



TJic Ethnology of India. 



tliey are separated by great tribes of Kanoujeas and others, and their 
own traditions point to Harriana as their original country. I would 
suggest the following explanation. The principal tributary of the 
Saraswatee is the 1 Gruggur' or ' Grkargar' which now gives its name to 
the main channel where it passes through the Harriana district. 
May not the name of 1 Gour,' borne by these Bramins of Harriana, be 
a mere abbreviation of ' Gruggur' or Grhargar ? May not the Gour 
Bramins be simply Bramins of the Gruggur or Lower Saraswatee ? 

Generally speaking I think it may be said that in the western 
parts of the present N. W. Provinces, in the Bohilcund, Meerut and 
Agra Divisions and in Western Oude, the Bramin population is not 
specially numerous. They are scattered about everywhere here and 
there, both as cultivators and in other capacities, but I know no large 
body of them. I don't know that they follow much any profession 
involving manual labour, except cultivation and almost any kind of 
service ; unskilled labour as Coolees or spade labourers, they may 
undertake when pressed, but I do not think that they are artisans. 
There are a few considerable Bramin bankers in Hindustan, or at 
least one great house, but that trade is not generally in their hands. 

Farther east, in the Lower Doab, Eastern Oude, and the adjoining 
districts, is the great country of the modern Hindustanee Bramins. 
Kanouj, the ancient head-quarters of the race, is on the old Ganges 
50 or 60 miles above Cawnpore. It is now an insignificant place, 
and the mass of the Bramin population lies to the east of it. In 
the districts of Cawnpore and Futtehpore I believe that the Bramin 
cultivators far exceed in number any other class ; in Cawnpore alone 
there are some 250,000 of them. It is much the same immediately 
on the other side of the Ganges, in the adjoining parts of Oude. 
The country of which this is the centre may then more than any 
other be considered especially that in which the Bramins are now 
settled as a people. And in the far distant country in which also 
they are very numerous, the Western Coast of Southern India, the 
Bramins claim to be colonists from the same region, saying that 
Paras Ram led them from Calpee (the great Ferry of the Jumna 
opposite Cawiipore) and causing the sea to recede, settled them under 
the Western Ghats. The Lower Doab is well-known all over Central 
and Southern India as the " Unter-bed." 



The Eilinology of India, 65 

Whether from the example of the Rajpoots, or for other reasons, 
these Bramins of the Unterbed and Oude have taken largely to the 
profession of arms, not usually much followed by them in other parts 
of the country ; and beyond their own boundaries in their Military 
character they are reputed the most overbearing and disagreeable 
of their race. Yet I fancy that it is rather their profession than their 
natural character, which has attached to them this bad name. Numer- 
ous as they were in the Sepoy Army and foully as that Army 
-behaved, I cannot find that the Bramins were really by any means 
worse than others ; some of the most Bramin Regiments stood the 
best. And at home they seem to be quiet and peaceable enough. 
The Bramin district of Cawnpore pays, I think, a higher revenue rate 
than any other in India, except the peculiar Delta of the Cauvery about 
Tanjore. Numerous as the Bramins are in this part of the country 
and apt as soldiers, they have not been the dominant race. I do not 
know much of the history of the Cawnpore district, but I have never 
beard of Bramin rule ; and certainly over the river, in Oude, the rule 
is with the Rajpoots, not with the Bramins. All the really old 
Talookdars are Rajpoots, as are the Rajas of Bundlecund and Baghel- 
cund beyond the Jumna. 

I am not sure what is the extent of the Bramin population in 
Bundlecund. In the Banda District I think that they are common, 
and certainly in 1 Baghelcuncl,' or Rewah, they are very numerous ; but 
whether the same martial race, I do not know, for there they conde- 
scend to very menial services and groom most of the horses on the 
J ubbulpore road. 

In the proper Bramin country, I think that some of them affect 
the Rajpoot prejudice against actually holding the plough, but 
even there they perform every other agricultural labour. Agri- 
cultural and military as they are, they rejoice in the classic names of 
Dobee, Tewaree, and Choubee, that is men of two Yeds, of three Veds, 
of four Yeds, and are considered to be very high caste. Between the 
Ganges and the Gogra, as we recede from the Ganges, the population 
becomes more Rajpoot than Bramin, but there are many Bramins 
about ' Ajoodia,' the old ' Oadh.' Beyond the Gogra again is a nu- 
merous Bramin population of a different tribe from the martial 
Bramins of the Ganges, humbler, and not soldiers. Thence to the 



6G 



The Ethnology of India. 



north of the Gogra and Granges all the way into Tirhoot there are, 
I believe, many Bramins. South of the Gogra and thence across the 
Ganges, into the Arrah District (Bojpore), runs the Rajpoot dominions. 
But about Benares, and still more in the greater part of Bahar, the 
dominion is held by a numerous class of bastard Bramins called 
< Bamans' or ' Bhabans,' to which belong both the Raja of Benares 
and almost all the great landholders of Bahar. There seems to be 
no doubt that this class is formed by an intermixture of Bramins with 
some inferior caste. They live in strong and pugnacious brother- 
hoods, and are in character much more like Rajpoots than Bramins. 
The main country of the Bramins may then be described to be that 
part of Hindustan (between the Vyndyas on one side and the Hima- 
layas on the other), from the longitude of Kanouj and Lucknow 
to near the frontiers of Bengal, with a large segment of more 
especially Rajpoot country (stretching from Lucknow to Bojpore) 
cut out of the centre of this tract. 

The Hindustanee Bramins are all strict Hindus of the modern type. 
They are generally good sized and on the whole well-looking men, 
not I think particularly fair among the higher castes, but seldom so 
dark as the lower. Their features are good, but by no means 
generally of the peculiar High-Arian and sub-aquiline type. In fact 
the breed has here lost some of the purity of its blood, and the 
features are very much as in Europe. I think I have noticed among 
many of the Hindustanee Bramins a good deal of the open, blunt, 
bullet-headed, and as it were anti-aquiline style of countenance ; not 
so handsome as more High-Arian features, but still pleasant enough. 
I do not think that in appearance they have any decided superiority 
over the higher castes of Hindustanees in general, though the higher 
castes have some general advantages over the inferior castes. By 
far the greater number of them are quite illiterate and have nothing 
of the clerkly character about them. The priests and Pandits are learned 
enough in their way, but they have never taken to the use of the 
Persian character. I doubt whether Hindustanee Bramins are as a 
body much more clever that several other classes ; if they had been, 
they would have held their own better in spite of Mahommedan rule, 
as they have done in several other parts of India. As it is, they 
have scarcely any share of high office and very little literate service. 



TJw Ethnology of India. 



67 



Besides serving ' as soldiers, they may be found among the lower 
hangers-on of courts, jails, &c, as process servers, guards over 
prisoners, and so on, but little in anything higher. As I have said, 
they turn their hands to many miscellaneous occupations not peculiar 
to any one else, and of course occasionally rise. 

Sir H. Elliott calls the bastard Bramins of Benares and Bahar 
1 BJioonhars 1 and seems to consider them a branch of the Sarwarea or 
Transgogra Bramins. Again he speaks of them (quoting from the 
1 Harivansa') as Military Bramins descendants of Kasya Princes, and 
here he seems to connect the term Kasya with Kashee, the Hindoo 
name for Benares. I do not know 7 the derivation of Kashee, or whether 
it is connected with Kashupya. 

Bramins are numerous in Kumaon and Gurwhal. The great tribe 
of those Provinces are however " Khassias" who now claim to be 
Rajpoots, but whose title to that character is more than doubtful. 
Education is, I think, more general here than in the plains, and 
the Nagaree or ordinary Sanscrit character is always used. Again 
the Groorkhas, the dominant tribe in Nepal, are properly called ' Khas,* 
whence Gor-khas. They are certainly for the most part of Arian 
and Hindoo origin, and pretend to be Rajpoots ; but, according to 
Mr. Hodgson,, they are really bastard Bramins, the offspring of a 
cross between Bramin immigrants and the people of the hills. Both 
the Khassias of Kumaon and the Khas of Nepal assert that they are 
comparatively recent immigrants from the plains, but this is probably 
in a great degree connected with their claim to the blue blood of the 
Rajpoots of the plains. The latter by no means acknowledge the 
connection. The circumstance that a bastard Bramin race is dominant 
in the plains immediately under the Central parts of Nepal gives 
much colour to Mr. Hodgson's account of a similar race in the hills. 
May it not be that the Rajpoots have never got so far east in the 
hills, and that the hill country was occupied by pre-Rajpoot Bramins ? 
May it be that the names Kashee, Khassia, and Khas, point to a time 
when the Bramins were known as Khasas or Kashmeerees, just as 
English colonists are known as Anglo-Saxons ? 

Mr. B. Colvin, long Deputy Commissioner of Almorah, tells me a 
curious circumstance, viz. that in Kumaon, although the hill dialect 
is in the main Hindee, it has some curious grammatical affinities to 



68 



The Ethnology of India. 



the Bengalee, both in some of the popular terminations, in the verb 
* to be,' and in other particulars. I had before learned that there was 
a peculiarity of this kind in the Hindee spoken in the high 
country immediately south of Bahar, but there I supposed it to be a 
mere intermixture of the not distant Bengalee. The existence, 
however, of Bengalee affinities in the patois of Kumaon would 
seem to suggest the question whether these are not the remains of a 
form of Arian speech older that the modern Hindee, spoken perhaps 
before Rajpoots and Jats came on the scene, and then driven forward 
to Bengal in one direction, into the hills in another. I have not 
myself any acquaintance with Bengalee, but it would be interesting 
to enquire if it has any affinities with the older forms of speech in 
Kashmir and the north-western hills, or again with the Marat ta 
and western dialects. 

To get an idea of the Bengalee formation, I asked a friend the 
other day a single word, the pronoun ' he' and the genitive ' of him,' 
which he gave me 1 Se' and ' Taha' or ' Tah.' At this present writing, 
by way of experiment, I have just turned up these same words in Mr. 
Edgeworth's small Kashmir Grammar and find c he,' ' Su f 1 of him' 
■ Teh.'' The 1 Se' is a very old Arian form, found in the Kaffir hills, 
which disappears in Hindee and reappears in Bengalee ; but the genitive 
i Teh 1 in Cashmiree, 1 Tah' in Bengalee, seems a singular and hardly 
accidental coincidence. 

To return, this brings me to the Bengalee Bramins. They all 
assert a northern origin as a historical fact, and I believe that there 
is no doubt of it. Still their nationality is altogether Bengalee, 
and as the Bengalees differ from all other Indians, these Bramins 
also differ much in language, dress, habits, and general style from the 
Hindustanee Bramins. 

In appearance they are certainly fairer, larger, and altogether 
Aryans of a higher type than the mass of the Bengalees. There is 
much more difference, I think, between Bramins and the mass in 
Bengal than in Hindustan. Some of them are fine looking men both 
in size and feature. They regain here too, some (though not all) 
of the aristocratic and bureaucratic position which they have lost 
in Hindustan. They have little competition from Rajpoots and 
rough northern tribes, and might have it pretty much their own way, 



The Ethnology of India. 69 

were it not that they are hard-pushed by the clerkly caste of Kaits 
who also are numerous in Bengal. As it is, the Bramins have a 
large share of the landed property, the public offices, the educated 
professions, and some mercantile and hanking business. They are 
very numerous. In the entire absence of statistics and detailed 
information in Bengal, the only source of ethnological information 
which I can find is in the jail statistics. These show that about 
9 per cent, of the total number of Hindu prisoners are Bramins. 
We may suppose that the Bramins of Bengal proper come to jail 
less frequently than the inferior classes, and this return certainly 
seems to prove that the Bramin population must be very large. 
I do not understand that anywhere in Bengal they form the mass of 
the population, or that they are often found in the lowest ranks of 
agriculturists and labourers. They are rather more or less an 
aristocratic class, and though following a variety of callings and to 
some extent cultivating the land, will not ordinarily put their hand to 
the plough, and affect as far as possible the position of superiors. They 
are altogether unwarlike and somewhat effeminate in their habits. 

In Eastern Bengal Mahommedans prevail, and some Bramins are 
supposed not to like to cross the Berhampooter, hence in that quarter 
they seem not to be very numerous. In Orissa I believe they are 
very many, and I see it stated in the Gazetteer of Southern India 
that in the Oorya portion of the Gran jam District many of the Oorya 
Bramins both obtain their livelihood as cultivators and traders, and 
follow the occupations of brickmakers, bricklayers, &c. 

The result of education shows the Bramins of Bengal to be most 
acute and intellectually capable. But they do not appear to have 
the practical energy of the mercantile and some other classes, nor 
the political and administrative success of Maratta and Kashmeeree 
Bramins. In native times I do not remember to have heard of Bengalee 
Bramins in great places, unless we except Nandcomar who attained 
so unfortunate an eminence. In these days I believe that intellectual 
eminence is often combined with much high principle among the 
educated Bengalees, and I hope that both may bear practical fruit. 

Going to the other side of India, in Goozerat the Bramins appear 
to be numerous, but I have not yet visited that Province, and have 
not exactly ascertained their position and avocations. Forbes does 



70 



The Ethnology of India. 



not seem to speak of them as forming any large portion of the culti- 
vating classes. They trace their descent from Kashyupa, and are 
divided into a large number of tribes and sub-divisions. In a secular 
capacity they seem to have a good share of office (although there 
also they encounter an energetic writer-caste) and also to trade. 
The Jains of Western India have Bramins among them, and these 
would seem to be for the most part Goozerat men. 

Next to Goozerat comes the Maratta country, extending from 
Damaun to the neighbourhood of Goa, and from Bombay to Nagpore 
and the Wyuganga. The Maratta Bramins are the most famous and 
successful of their race. That their fortune is due to their talent and 
energy, is shown by their success beyond their own bounds, in fact 
throughout Southern and Central India. But in their own country 
and among their own people, they are also favoured by circumstances. 
The lower caste men of the pen, who have ousted the Bramins in 
some countries of the north and more than rivalled them in others, 
are not found in the Maratta social system (those now found in the 
Bombay country are G-oozerattees, and Bombay itself is in a mercan- 
tile sense very much a Goozerattee city). The mass of the Maratta 
people are of a comparatively humble class, without the pride and 
jealousy of Bramins shown by Rajpoots and Jats. Hence wherever 
there is a Maratta people or Maratta rule, Maratta Bramins are the 
brains and directing power. At first they contented themselves with 
the highest administrative offices under Maratta rulers, but later, as 
is well known, the Peshwa and other Bramins usurped the supreme 
power itself, assumed the command of armies, and openly ruled the 
confederacy. In truth, so miscellaneous, and so loosely held together 
by any other tie, were Maratta confederacies and armies, that these 
Bramins may be considered to be the real source of the power and 
fame of the Marattas as rulers in India. They were the heads of a 
body of which others were but the hands guided by them. Even 
to the present day in many States and places beyond their own limits, 
they have the chief power. 

In fact perhaps no race, certainly no Indian race, has ever shown 
greater administrative talent and acuteness. The native country of 
the Maratta Bramins is chiefly to the west, and especially the 
Concan, south of Bombay, the hilly strip near the Western Coast. 



TJie Ethnology of India. 71 

It might be conjectured that centuries of Mahommedan rule might 
have caused the retreat of the Bramins from the more open 
plains to these regions ; but I do not know that there is historical 
ground for this supposition, and think it more likely that under any 
rule they would hold their own and circumvent even foreign rulers. 
Their personal appearance would lead one rather to suppose that they 
came from the North- West. Many of them are very fair, and I think 
that there is among them a much greater tendency to the common 
occurrence of a somewhat aquiline, or what I call sub-aquiline type 
of feature than among Hindustanee Bramins. A very marked feature, 
not uncommonly met with, seems to be a light greyish kind of eye. 
Altogether, I cannot suppose these Bramins to be a branch of the 
race which, after occupying Hindustan, extended southwards. I can- 
not imagine how they could in the south, as it were, in some degree 
have returned towards an earlier type, instead of step by step 
becoming darker and more Indian-like. It is undoubtedly the case 
and is a subject of common remark, that all along the West Coast of 
India the people are much fairer than in the interior, even though 
most of the interior country above the Ghats is considerably elevated. 
Some have accounted for this by saying that colour does not alto- 
gether depend on the thermometer, that the inhabitants of the 
more umbrageous Coast are less exposed to an unclouded sun and dry 4 
atmosphere than the people of the bare and treeless plains of the 
peccan, and that thus the difference of colour is to be accounted for. 
I will not say that this cause is wholly without effect, but I think it 
quite insufficient to account for the whole difference. The Bengalees 
in a moist atmosphere and amid a luxurious vegetation are generally 
dark. The blackest of the Aboriginal tribes live in the densest forest 
country in a moist malarious climate. Even on this very Western 
Coast I find the Aboriginal Helots of Malabar described as being 
" of the deepest black.". We must look then to some other cause 
modifying the complexion of many tribes on the West Coast, and 
that I take to be immigration by sea. That there has been much 
such immigration, is not only probable, but a historical fact. All 
along the southern portion of the West Coast, a large part of the 
population is notoriously to a great degree of foreign blood. The 
Moplahs are to a great extent Arabs, the ' Teers' or 1 Teermen' are also 



72 



The Ethnology of India. 



said to be immigrants (as their very name indicates), and there are 
many Jews and Christians, though the latter I believe have not much 
trace of Western blood. All along the Bombay Coast also, from Groa 
to Kurrachee, are the descendants of Persian, Arab, Portuguese, and 
other Western immigrants. Hence I did not think it by any means 
absurd when an educated Bramin of Poonah suggested to me as a 
theory, that the Bramins owed the light eyes and light complexion 
noticed among them to an intermixture of Western blood. The Bramins 
would be less liable, however, to casual and recent intermixture than 
other races, and I incline rather to the theory that these Bramins of 
this part of the Coast may have more directly come from the original 
seats of the race by the route of the Saraswatee and the Indus, and 
thence perhaps by sea, without passing through Hindustan and Cen- 
tral India and there suffering any infiltration of Aboriginal blood. 
I have already traced the Bramins clown the Saraswatee. Is it not 
probable enough that in very early days, when they were pressed by 
Rajpoots and Jats, they may have colonised the Konkan, reduced to 
subjection the rude Aborigines, and transmitted to descendants 
features preserved from great deterioration by caste rules, and forms 
only somewhat deteriorated in size and robustness by a southern 
climate and the absence of manual labour ? If such an immigration 
took place so early as I suppose, it might well happen that, in long 
contact with southern elements and southern creeds, the colonists in 
the Maratta country would separate themselves from the old Saras- 
watee Bramins and become a separate division. 

I have seen some allusions to Konkan Bramins as distinguished 
from Maratta Bramins, but have not been able to make out the 
exact distinction. Certainly Maratta Bramins are altogether the 
dominant race in great part of the Konkan. But it appears that 
there is a strip to the south, extending beyond the district usually 
known as the Konkan to some way beyond Goa, in which a mixed 
language called Konkanee is spoken. In this Konkan there are some 
Bramins still called 1 Kashastala or Saraswatee' and from the Konkan 
some of them have penetrated into the north-western part of the 
Mysore country, where they are traders and in public employment, and 
described as very clever but greatly looked clown upon by southern 
Bramins who profess to be much more rigid in their rules. In the 



The Ethnology of India, 73 

towns of the North Canarese Coast, the Hindu traders are said to be 
chiefly " Konkanee Bramins who trade and keep shops-." 

In the Maratta Konkan the Bramins are at the head of the 
agricultural community. Most of the ' Rotes' or village zemindars 
who rule over and claim the proprietary right in each village are of 
this caste. I have not been able to ascertain what proportion of the 
actual cultivators are of the same class. For the rest, office of every 
kind, including the village and pergunnah accountantships all over the 
country, and every service of the head and the pen, seem to be their 
great resources. They are not military, nor generally in any way 
men of the sword, though, as I have said, they have in their prosperity 
taken the command of Maratta Armies. Nor do they seem to have 
any great commercial proclivities. Among the various races who 
push to so great a point mercantile enterprise in Bombay I cannot 
find that the Bramins have any great share. Under our Government 
they have almost a monopoly of office in Western India. 

Adjoining the Maratta country on the east is the Telinga or Telagoo 
country,, very little of which I have visited and of the castes and 
population of which I have been able to learn less than of any other 
part of India. This at least,, however, I find that here also the 
Bramins, though not so famous nor, I apprehend, so clever as those 
of Maharashtra, are numerous and powerful. The Telinga people 
are described as generally illiterate and as (unlike their Tamil neigh- 
bours) leaving literature and science to the Bramins ; so that the 
latter would seem in Telingana, free from the competition of a 
writer caste, to have in their hands all the secular business of a 
clerkly character and a good deal more besides. I have not ascer- 
tained what proportion of the population they there form, and 
whether many of them are actual cultivators but in more than one 
place I find it stated that many of the Zemindars are Bramins, and 
in Rajamundry the more respectable inhabitants of the Town are said 
to be chiefly Bramins-. 

I can only trust that this meagre account of the Telagoo Bramins 
will be supplemented by some one better qualified to describe them. 
Towards Madras I gather that there are some learned G-wallas called 
Yadavas and Telagoo €hetties (perhaps a merchant class, but I am 
Bot sure), who mfist a good deal interfere with the Bramins. They 



74 



The Ethnology of India. 



do not seem to be very conspicuous in Madras itself, which, though in 
the Tamil country, is not far from the Telagoo frontier. 

In the Canarese country (comprising Canara, Mysore and parts of 
the Bombay Southern Districts and adjoining Nizam's country) the 
Bramins are not rivalled by a specific writer class, and have a large 
share of literate office, very generally (it appears) occupying that of 
Shanbogue or village accountant, besides many higher offices. But a 
very large proportion of the Canarese people are of the ultra-Sivite 
or Lingayet sect, who altogether ignore Bramins in their sacerdotal 
character j and there are energetic mercantile and other classes. The 
rule of the Marattas in one quarter, and of the Mahommedans in another 
was also unfavorable to the power of the Canarese Bramins, and thus 
they are by no means dominant. Maratta Bramins, Mahommedans, 
East Indians and others have a large share of the higher offices and 
occupations. 

In the North Western part of the Canarese country, in the district 
of North Canara, in the high and hilly country above and about the 
ghats, and the adjoining parts of Mysore, there is a large population 
of Bramin cultivators who are on all hands represented as exceedingly 
industrious, thriving, and in every way good. Most of these people 
are called 1 Haiga' Bramins, and they seem to be of pure race and of 
no bastard or doubtful caste. They especially affect the cultivation 
of the betel-nut, and both own and cultivate the land over a large 
extent of country. In the Canara District they constitute one of 
the most numerous castes, being given by a census taken some years 
ago as 147,924, to 146,309 Banters (corresponding to Nairs), and 
151,491 of the inferior class called Billawars. In the Nagar district 
of Mysore they are also numerous, and they are there described as 
"very fair, with large eyes and aquiline noses," a description which 
would seem to imply for them a derivation from an uncorrupted 
and little intermixed northern source. They are stated not to be 
very literary or highly educated, being more devoted to agriculture. 

In South Canara and what is called the Talava country, there are 
again many Bramins who do much cultivation, and on the whole 
West Coast, down to the extreme South of India, the country is said 
to have been extensively colonised by the Bramin colony led from 
Calpee by Parasram, who caused the sea to retire for<fcheir convenience. 



The Ethnology of India. 



75 



In the centre of this tract, in Malabar, the Braniins, owing to political 
circumstances and hostile rule, have been to a great extent driven 
away, but they are very numerous in Travancore and Cochin ; and in 
the Palghaut valley (a little inland, where the break takes place in the 
line of the ghats) the Braniins seem to be very numerous as cultiva- 
tors, and are industrious and good in that capacity. The principal 
class of Bramins on the South Coast are called Narnberees, and they 
have some very peculiar customs. They affect, however, much of 
the sacerdotal character, and seem to be very influential in Travancore 
and Cochin. Throughout the South Western Coast, however, wherever 
the Nairs and allied tribes are or have been politically dominant or 
are now numerous, the Bramins have by no means a monopoly of 
office, even among Hindus ; for the Nairs themselves are frequently 
educated and hold very many public offices. 

The Namberee Bramins are described as very like the Nairs and 
general Hindu population of the South Coast, but as not unfrequently 
fairer. 

It remains to notice the Tamil country. There also the Bramins 
are numerous, but it appears that throughout the extreme South, they 
again lose that literary predominance, or almost monopoly, which they 
enjoy in the Maratta and other countries in the middle zone of India 
as well as in the extreme North. I have mentioned that the Nairs 
of the Malayala and Talava country by no means resign the pen to 
the Bramins ; and so also it appears that throughout the Tamil country 
offshoots of the dominant tribes, under the names of Modelliars, 
Pillays, &g.j do much of the clerkly work, and the Bramins have not 
generally the office of village accountant and collector — the posses- 
sion of which is the greatest test of predominance in that respect. I 
gather that the Lingamite sect is less numerous in the Tamil than 
in the Canarese country, and consequently the Bramins are in a 
sacerdotal point of view more important. They also push their 
fortunes in many secular ways. They rent much land, but will not 
hold the plough, and are extensively employed in the public offices 
as hurkaras (messengers or process servers) and in such like capa- 
cities, also as keepers of choultreas and in many other occupations. 
With reference to what I have said of them as renters rather than 
cultivators, I should add that, though the Palghat country is included 



76 The Ethnology of India. 

in Malabar, it appears that most of the cultivating Bramins there are 
of Tamil extraction. Many of them condescend to officiate as astro- 
logers and religions gnides to the very lowest and scarcely Hindu 
castes of Southern India. 

Briefly I would thus recapitulate the position of the Bramins in 
the principal Provinces of India. 

In Kashmir, they are altogether dominant by the brain and pen, 
but are not military. 

In the Punjab, Scinde, and countries about the Saraswatee, Bramins 
are superseded by other races, and are only found here and there in 
the eastern part of this tract as industrious cultivators claiming to be 
the ancient occupants of the country. 

In Hindustan, Bramins have altogether lost literate predominance 
(with the exception of some immigrant Cashmeerees), and also 
political predominance, except something retained by quasi-Bramins 
of mixed caste in the extreme east of this country. But they 
constitute a large section of the population of Hindustan, especi- 
ally of the eastern half, and a large proportion of the cultivators, 
soldiers, &c. 

In Bengal and Orissa, Bramins form a large portion of the Hindu 
population, occupy to a great extent an aristocratic position, and have 
a large share in the superior rights in land, in offices, and in the 
literate professions; but are at the same time quite rivalled by 
Kaists. 

In the Maratta country, Bramins are altogether dominant in literate 
work, and have the largest share of political power. 

In the Telinga country, Bramins are in possession of most of the 
literate work, and apparently of a good deal of office, land, &c. 
but my information is very imperfect. 

In the South of India, Bramins have but a moderate share of the 
literate work ; but on the West Coast, they have a large share 
of the land and form a large proportion of the best cultivating 
population ; while in the east of this country they seem to be not 
dominant and are rivalled by several other tribes, though here also 
they are numerous and employedmn many capacities, secular as well 
as sacerdotal. 



The Ethnology of India. 



77 



The Jats. 

On the general scheme of tracing the Arian races from the North- 
West, I take the Jats before the Rajpoots. These Jats are in fact by 
far the most perfect specimen of the democratic and more properly 
Indo- Germanic races, whom I believe to have appeared in India later 
than the early Braminical Hindus, and who, while Hindu in much 
of their speech, laws, and manners, have also some peculiarities and 
institutions, and perhaps some grammatical forms of speech not to be 
traced in the earlier Braminical writings. These tribes, now consti- 
tuting over a great part of India an upper and dominant stratum of 
society, have given to a great degree their own tone and colour to 
many Provinces. In great part of Jat-land the Jats are not only 
the upper stratum, but the great body and mass of the free people ; 
and hence we have among them their original institutions in the 
greatest purity, little modified by modern Braminical Laws, or by those 
necessities of Military and Feudal organisation which so much alter 
the institutions of a free people, when they become dominant con- 
querors over other races greatly superior in number. 

There is some variation in the pronunciation of the word ' Jat,' it 
being sometimes (chiefly in the west country) pronounced so short that 
it may be written ' Jut ;' sometimes (in much of the Punjab) variably 
used, and sometimes (chiefly in the east) pronounced very long as 1 Jat' 
and even occasionally written by early English authors 1 Jaut.' And 
the present religion, dress, &e. of the race also differing in different 
regions (they are Mussulmans in the west, Sikhs in great part of the 
Punjab, and in some sense Hindus in the east), some people have 
supposed Mahommedan Jats of Scinde to be radically different from 
Hindu Jauts of Bhurtpore, and the wide extent and populousness of 
this great race is not very generally known. In fact, however, any 
apparent differences in the extreme of the type disappear, when we 
trace them as one great continuous population throughout the whole 
traif , and find that the one extreme gradually and imperceptibly merges 
into the other. 

To prevent future doubts, I will, however, add that there' may 
possibly be small local western tribes of similar name, distinct from the 
great Jat nation. It seems that on some parts of the frontier Jats are 



78 



TJie Ethnology of India. 



known as a somewhat pastoral and light-fingered tribe ; and Burtoir 
in his 1 Scinde' speaks of a tribe of Beloochis bearing the name ; also 
says that it is the name of a wandering tribe found about Candahar, 
Herat, Meshed, &c, and that in all the Western parts of Central Asia, 
the term is used as synonymous with thief and scoundrel. These 
gentry may be offshoots of our Jats thrown by circumstances on the 
resources of their mother-wit, or they may be some other tribe ; but 
at any rate they are in no way a type of the great agricultural nation 
whose habitat I am about to describe, and about whose oneness and 
complete ethnological nationality there can be, I think, no doubt 
whatever. 

In all the east of Beloochistan, about the routes by which the most 
open and constant communications between India and the countries 
to the west are maintained, in the Provinces marked in the maps as 
1 Sewestan' and ' Cutch Grandava,' Jats form a large, probably the largest 
portion of the agricultural population, and claim to be the original 
owners of the soil. In fact the Beloochis are there but a later wave 
and upper stratum. The Persian Tajiks are the original agricultural 
class of all the west of Affghanistan and Beloochistan ; then there is 
a tribe apparently somewhat mixed, called ' Dehwars,' found about 
Candahar and thereabouts. The Jats are not found in Affghanistan, 
but in Beloochistan they succeed the Tajiks and Dehwars, as we go 
east by the Bolan and routes thereabouts. Here then they are not 
confined to the plains, but occupy the hilly country. 

Descending into the plains, we find the Jats spread to the right and 
left along the Indus and its tributaries, occupying upper Scinde on 
one side and the Punjab on the other. But it is particularly to be 
remarked that in the Punjab they are not found in any numbers 
above the Salt Bange, and they are wholly unknown in the Hima- 
laya. In fact, to the north they are altogether excluded from the 
hilly country, a circumstance which seems to me conclusively to show 
that they did not enter India by that extreme northern route. The 
hills to the north seem on the contrary to be a barrier by whictfthe 
flood of Jats was checked. 

In* all Upper Scinde the Jats are still the prevailing population, and 
their language is the language of the country. It is moreover matter 
of history that they were once the aristocracy of that land, though 



The Ethnology of India. 79 

latterly other races have dominated and the higher classes among the 
Jats have lost somewhat of their position. In the south and west of 
the Punjab too they have long been subject to Mahommedan rulers, 
but latterly as Sikhs they became rulers of the whole Punjab and of 
the country beyond as far as the upper Jumna, in all which territories 
they are still in every way the dominant population. Over great tracts 
of this country, I should say that three villages out of four are Jat, and 
that in each Jat village the Jats constitute perhaps two-thirds of the 
entire population, the remainder being low caste Helots, with a few 
traders, artisans, &c. 

The Juts of the Indus seem on the map to be separated from the 
Jauts of Bhurtpore and Agra by the whole breadth of Rajpootana, but 
the fact is that the ordinary geographical nomenclature gives rise to 
much misconception on the subject. By far the greater part of what 
we call Rajpootana is, ethnologically speaking, much more a Jat than 
a Rajpoot country. The great seat of Rajpoot population and ancient 
power and glory is on the Ganges, and it is said that since the Mahom- 
medans conquered them there, the chief Rajpoot houses have as it were 
doubled back on the comparatively unfruitful countries which now bear 
their name, but where, notwithstanding, the most numerous section 
of the population is Jat. Col. Tod expressly tells us that northern 
Rajpootana was partitioned into small Jat republics, before the 
Rajpoots were driven back from Ajoodea and the Ganges. It is clear 
then that the Jats extend continuously east from the Indus over 
Rajpootana. They do not seem to have occupied (or at least do not 
now occupy) lower Scinde, nor are they found in Goozerat, although 
in the history of the latter country mention is made of incursions of 
Jat horsemen on the frontier in conjunction with Katties. Their line 
of settlement lies farther north. They may have arrived on the 
Saraswatee, before its banks lost their moisture, and if so, their passage 
to the east would be comparatively easy. Throughout the more open 
parts of Rajpootana they share the soil with the Aboriginal or semi- 
Aboriginal Meenas, the remains of the Bramin population, and the 
dominant Rajpoots ; the Jats having, I gather, the largest share of the 
cultivation. The southern and more hilly parts of Rajpootana (where 
Mhairs, Meenas, and Bheels so much hold their own,) are not Jat, but 
in Malwa again they are numerous, and seem to share that Province 
with Rajpoots and Koonbees. 



§0 Tlie Ethnology of India, 

To tlie north, in the north-eastern Punjab and Cis-Sutlej districts, 
as we get near the hills, I think there are evident indications that the 
Jat population has been advancing on what has once been a proper. 
Rajpoot country, after having perhaps been, before that, a Bramin 
country. It is not clear whether the Bhattees of Bhatteana were 
originally Rajpoots or really are Yuti or Jats. But from Bhatteana 
northwards, Rajpoot villages are scattered about in considerable 
numbers among the Jats, and there are traces of more extensive 
Rajpoot possessions. The Rajpoots seem to be here undergoing gradual 
submersion. But in the extreme north of the Baree and adjoining 
Doabs of the Punjab (the Baree is that Doab in which Lahore and 
Umritsir are situated) there is still a strip immediately under the 
hills, which may be classed with the adjoining hill country as still 
mainly Rajpoot. To the west, advancing through Rajpootana, we 
come to the Jats of Bhurtpore and Dholpore, famous in history. 
Gwalior was a Jat fortress belonging, I think, to the Dholpore Chief. 
They do not go much further south in this direction. From this 
point they may be said to occupy the banks of the Jumna all the way 
north to the hills. The Dehli territory is principally a Jat country, and 
from Agra upwards the flood of that race has passed the river in con- 
siderable numbers, and forms a large part of the population of the 
Upper Doab in the districts of Allighur, Meerut, and Mozuffernugger. 
They are just known over the Ganges in the Moradabad district, but 
they cannot be said to have crossed that river in any numbers. 

To define then the Jat country ; take as a basis the country on both 
sides of the Indus from Lat. 26° or 27° up to the Salt Range ; from 
the extremities of this base draw two lines nearly at right angles to 
the river and inclining south, so as to reach Lat. 23° or 24°inMalwa ; 
and Lat. 30° on the Jumna, thus including Upper Scinde, Marwar, 
and part of Malwa on one side, and Lahore, Umritsir, and Umballaon 
the other- then connect the two eastern points by a line which shall 
include Dholpore, Agra, Allighur, and Meerut. Within all that 
ambit the Jat race ethnologically predominates, excepting only the 
hills of Mewar and the neighbourhood, still held by Aboriginal tribes. 

The Jats of Beloochistan are described, from an Affghan or Candahar 
point of view, as fine athletic men with handsome features, but rather 
dark. 



The Ethnology of India. 



81 



In Upper Scinde, up the course of the Indus, and in the south-west- 
ern Punjab, they are now for the most part Mahominedans, and in that 
character seem to be somewhat inferior Jto their unconverted and 
perhaps purer brethren ; the more so as they have been long subject 
to foreign rule. The language spoken along the line of the Indus 
and throughout Upper Scinde is there known as the " Jatee G-ul" or 
Jat language, but is in fact identical with that which we call 
Punjabee. The Punjabee may, in fact, properly be called the Jat 
language ; to the Jats the dialect seems especially to belong, and by 
them chiefly it is spoken. Advancing eastwards into the Punjab and 
Rajpootana, we find Hindu and Mahommedan Jats much mixed ; it 
often happens that one-half of a village or one branch of a family is 
Mahommedan, and the other Hindu. Further east, Mahommedan Jats 
become rarer and rarer, and both about Lahore and all that part of 
the Punjab and along the line of the Upper Sutlej and Jumna the 
great mass remain unconverted. In the Punjab they all take the 
name of ' Sing,' and dress somewhat differently from ordinary Hindu 
Jats, but for the most part they only become formally Sikhs, when 
they take service, and that change makes little difference in their 
laws and social relations. The Jats of Dehli, Bhurtpore, &c. are 
a very fine race. They still bear the old Hindu names of 1 Mull' and 
such like, and are not all ' Sings.' In Rajpootana the Jats are pro- 
bably a good deal intermixed by contact with Meenas, &c, and they 
have now been long subject to an alien rule. One does not there 
hear much of them otherwise than as quiet and submissive cultivators. 

The Jat Sings of the Punjab and the Upper Sutlej may probably 
be taken as the best representative type of the race. They are a 
remarkably five variety of man — tall, large, well-featured, with very 
plentiful and long beards, fine teeth, and a very pleasant open expres- 
sion of countenance. I am told that in the Punjab Regiments, which 
select from several of the finest races in the world, the Sikhs are upon 
the whole the largest men, although they are not so stout-limbed or 
in certain respects quite so robust as the Affghan Pathans. Perhaps 
the larger population to choose from may have something to do 
with the superior size, but I should say that on an average they are 
taller than Pathans, with the upper part of the body especially well 
developed. In pluck and Military qualities they excel the fairer and 



62 



TJie Ethnology of India, 



in some degree more beautiful non-Pathan races of the northern 
hills. Altogether theu they are not excelled by any race in Asia. 

There is among them a large proportion of High-Arian feature, 
but there is much more variety and not so universal a high-nosed 
type as among the men of the frontier hills. Compared to northern races 
they are dark, but in every other respect they are, take them all in all, 
a very remarkably fine handsome people. 

They are as energetic in the arts of peace as in those of war. 
There are no better cultivators ; hard-working and thrifty, they let 
little land lie waste, and pay their revenue punctually. They have 
this great advantage too that among them a. woman is almost as good 
as a man, works as well and makes herself as generally useful. They 
are not literary, they leave that, with proper mercantile business, to the 
Khatrees (to be afterwards noticed). But many men and some women 
can read and write in their own rough way, and as waggoners they 
not unfrequently carry their grain and other goods to distant markets 
on their own account. 

They have an excessive craving after fixed ownership in the soil, 
and are essentially agriculturists. They seldom undertake a garden- 
ing style of cultivation f and prefer broad high lands to more cramped 
though moister locations. Where the country is more fitted for 
cattle, they breed them largely, and both ordinary carts and large 
mercantile waggons are generally plentiful in the Jat countries. 
Camels too they sometimes breed. But still, in India the Jats have 
never anything of the pastoral, roving, Gypsy-like character. 

I have alluded to the democratic institutions of the Jats, institu- 
tions to which we do not find allusions in the books of the Bramins. 
Yet it is certain that such institutions prevailed in the North of 
India as early as the time of Alexander the Great. The Greek 
accounts are distinct on the point. They represent the institutions 
as in fact extremely democratic, and add that the Indians ascribed 
their free constitution to Bacchus, by whom they were led into the 
country. I mentioned Col. Tod's testimony to the former existence 
of Jat republics in great part of what is now Rajpootana. I know 
of only one recognised republican State which came down to our 
day, that of ' Phool ' or 'Maraj,' from which sprung the chiefs who 
founded the States of Patteealah, Nabah, Jheend, &c. The old terri- 



The Ethnology of India. 



83 



tory of tlie Phoolkeean race was recognised, and treated, among the 
Protected Sikh States, as a regular republic. But I fear that, with 
many less creditable institutions, it has now been brought under the 
general rule of British dominion. 

However, States apart, every Jat village is on a small scale a demo- 
cratic republic. As respects property, there is neither that common 
tribal right which we find among the wilder Arabs, Turcomans, and 
New Zealanders, nor that complete joint family which figures so 
largely in the Hindu Law of the Braminical sages. Every man has 
his share of the cultivated land, separate and divided. It may be that 
a father and sons cultivate in common, but entire commensality 
seldom goes farther. The union in a joint village community ia 
rather the political union of the Commune, so well known in Europe, 
than a common enjoyment of property. The village site, the waste 
lands and grazing grounds, and it may be one or two other things 
belong to the commune, and the members of the commune have in 
these rights of common. For all the purposes of cultivation, the 
remainder of the land is in every way separate individual property. 
And the government of the commune is no patriarched rule, but 
simply representative government. A Communal Council or Punchayet 
rules by right of representation. For the rest, the laws of these people 
are of Arian, Indo- Germanic, and to some extent of the more liberal 
Hindu type. Marriage is a sacred and irrevocable bond, though 
remarriage of widows is permitted ; and alliances are restricted by 
the bonds of caste. The hereditary succession and general hereditary 
character of everything, which usually attends this system of caste 
and exclusive marriage, prevails among the Jats. Property is equally 
divided among sons. Daughters get nothing but that which may be 
given to them at the time of marriage. All the Jats are divided into 
many G-entes and Tribes, after the universal fashion of the peoples of 
this stock, and the usual fashion is to marry into another Gens. 

In that portion of the Protected Sikh Territories which Sikhs 
from the ( Lahore country had occupied as conquerors, there was a 
perfect feudal system. The chief of a tribe, as General, had a large 
appanage ; smaller chiefs owed him allegiance and service for their 
smaller domains, and under-holders under them again (all holding on 
a permanent hereditary tenure), till we come to the tenure of a single 



84 The Ethnology of India. 

horseman. These latter again have come to he divided tinder the 
operation of the rules of inheritance. But this system, it will he 
ohserved, is only adopted abroad for purposes of foreign domination. 

Beyond the caste system common to them with most Indo- Germans, 
the Jats have very little of the ceremonial strictness of Hindu caste. 
In Punjabee Regiments, they mess freely like Europeans, and have their 
comfortable two or three meals a day. 

The Jats sometimes claim to have been originally Rajpoots, and it 
is so stated in some of the written accounts ; but that is only one of 
the many stories of the kind prompted by a desire to stand high in 
the Hindu scale, and its futility is illustrated by a counter-stoiy 
told by some of the Mahommedan Jats, viz. that they are descended 
from one of the companions of the prophet. That the Jats and 
Bajpoots and their congeners are branches of one great stock, I have 
no doubt. It may be possible that the Rajpoots are Jats who have 
advanced farther into Hindustan, have there more intermingled with 
Hindu races, have become more high and strict Hindus, and achieved 
earlier power and glory. But that the Jats are Rajpoots who have 
receded from a higher Hindu position, is a theory for which there is 
not the least support, and which is contradicted by every feature in 
the present position of the now rapidly progressing Jats. 

The suggestion that Rajpoots may be Jats more highly developed 
in a Hindu point of view, would make the latter the earliest and most 
primitive, though at the same time perhaps the purest of the race ; 
just as I have supposed the Bramins of Cashmere and the Frontier 
hills to be Hindus of an earlier stage of Braminical development. 
But I am more inclined to suppose the Jats to be later immigrants 
from Central or "Western Asia. The character of the northern hills 
is such that immigration from thence could only gradually filtrate 
into the plains ; but by the passes of the Bolan, great immigrations 
are possible. Looking at the area of Jat occupation, it is just that 
which we might suppose to be covered by the steady flow of a large 
flood of population issuing from the Bolan, about Lat. 28° or 30°, as 
from a funnel, and thence spreading over the plains and pushing 
away before it other populations. The Rajpoots, again, when I come 
to treat of them, will be found to be ranged in a kind of horse shoe 
form round the outer edge of the Jat area, the mass of them occu- 



The Ethnology of India. 



pying the richer valley of the Granges. My conjecture is that the 
Rajpoots are an earlier wave from the same source, and who came in 
by the same route, who have farther advanced and have been more 
completely Hinduised, while the Jats have come in behind them. 

The Jat or Punjabee language is but a dialect, bearing somewhat 
the same relation to the Hinclee of the Rajpoots and other Hindustanees 
that Lowland Scotch bears to English. In its main grammatical and 
essential features it is not widely different. There are certainly in it 
many words which sound strange to a European only superficially 
acquainted with the common Hindustanee, and it would be very 
interesting to examine all these words and ascertain whether any and 
what foreign elements can be found. But I may state broadly that 
by far the greater number of these words are really of plain Sanscrit 
origin, and very many of them are quite familiar to those well 
acquainted with the purer Hindee dialects. I have been surprised to 
find how Sanscrit are most of the words which (little linguist that 
I am) I had supposed to be peculiarly Punjabee. Indeed the Rev. 
Mr. Trump broadly states the Jat language to be one of the most 
Pracrit of Indian Vernaculars, and so it clearly is. There remains 
the old question which concerns it equally with the Hindee, whether 
the grammar can be derived from the Sanscrit. It seems very im- 
probable that so great a mass of people as the Jats should have lost 
all traces of a separate language, if they ever had one. If so, it may 
surely be recognised in some Punjabee words. For the rest, the 
only doubt seems to be whether the Jats and Rajpoots, speaking an 
Indo-G-ermanic tongue allied to the Sanscrit, may have brought with 
them the grammar which now distinguishes the Punjabee and 
Hindee ; or whether the Bramins, when they spread wide over 
Hindustan and mixed among a large Aboriginal population, adopted 
some Aboriginal grammar, and fitted into it their own vocabulary, 
making a language which Jats and Rajpoots also have received in 
India ; or whether in fact all these tribes have derived a common 
tongue by direct Pracrit descent from the Sanscrit. 

The Rajpoots. 

I have already made so many allusions to the Rajpoots, that I have 
half anticipated my description of them. The best proof that they 



86 



The Ethnology of India, 



are not a part of the original Hindu system, but rather something 
engrafted upon it, is (I think) to be found in the difficulty of defining 
what is and what is not a Rajpoot. I have already shown, in noticing 
many tribes, that it is almost impossible to say where the Rajpoots 
begin and where they end. I shall now, however, confine myself as 
far as possible to the tribes who are generally acknowledged to be 
real Rajpoots of blue blood. 

They can scarcely be said to have any broad general tribal name 
like that of the Jats. It is hardly contended that they are really the 
old Kshatryas of the early Braminical accounts ; and though, in a 
military point of view, they have occupied and more than occupied 
the place assigned to the Kshatryas, still their numbers, their position 
and the existence among them of the institutions shared with them 
by the Jats and unknown to the old Hindoo Shasters (in th,em we 
find no trace of democracy) would all go to show that the Rajpoots 
are another race. In fact the days of the Kshatryas were those of the 
earliest Hindu annals, many hundred years before Christ, while the 
Rajpoots may be considered to have been the immediate predecessors 
of the Mahommedans in the rule of Hindustan. Except then in 
an affected way and with direct reference to the old Sanscrit Nomen- 
clature, the Rajpoots are not usually called ' Kshatryas,' while the 
name Rajpoot also is by no means universal among them, and merely 
means 1 Son of a Raja' or 1 Royal.' In some parts of the country, 
they usually call themselves ' Thakoors,' a word which also means 
Chiefs or Nobles. 

They are more frequently known by the names of their tribes 
as 1 Chouhans,' 1 Soorujbansees,' ' Bais,' ' Rahtores,' ' Baghels' (or 
Waghels') or the like, but the practice of marrying into another tribe 
makes all these high-caste tribes identical for ethnological purposes. 
I shall continue, then, to call them Rajpoots. 

They are chiefly known to Europeans in their military character 
and as feudal conquerors. But in reality, in their own villages in 
the plains of the Granges, they are simple agriculturalists of a con- 
stitution very much like that of the Jats, only less pure and complete. 
The fact is that the Rajpoots have had their day, and are now a 
down-going race. Partly the furnishing of armies and feudal hosts 
has exhausted the material and corrupted the simplicity of their ori- 



The Ethnology of India. 



HI 



ginal villages ; partly infanticide and other causes tend to diminish 
their numbers ; the result of all which is, that over great tracts of 
country we find them rather a minority trying to maintain a failing 
rule over a scarcely subject majority, than forming full democratic 
bodies of free Rajpoots. Still, in some parts of the country the 
agricultural Rajpoot villages are strong and numerous ; the land is 
divided among them, every Rajpoot is free and equal, and the commune 
is administered on democratic principles. Wherever this is so, their 
institutions are like those of the Jats. Although they have never cared 
much for Bramins, they have, unlike the Jats, the ceremonies and 
superstitions of Hindu caste. They cook once a day with great fuss 
and form, almost every man for himself after the most approved 
Hinclustanee fashion, and are very particular about caste-marks, &c. &c„ 
Their widows may not remarry, and it is their excessive point of 
honour to marry their daughters to none but men of the best tribes 
(a feeling allied to our chivalry no doubt) that renders the daughters 
such a burden to them, and makes female infanticide unfortunately so 
common among them. Their wives again are shut up after the 
Mahommedan fashion, and are lost for agricultural labour. Altogether 
Rajpoot females are a very unsatisfactory institution, and this goes 
far to weigh down and give a comparatively bad name to men who 
who are often industrious enough. 

Like the Jats, the Rajpoots are not found in any numbers to the 
North of the Salt Range, nor are they in any of the hill country west 
of the Jhelum.* If they ever occupied the Western Punjab, they have 
been driven forward by the J ats, and they are now only found about 
the Salt Range itself, where a small tribe called Jhanjhooas* (now 
Mahommedans) represents a Rajpoot race that seems to have been 
once great in those parts. Rut in the North-Eastern Punjab near 
the hills, the Rajpoot population is (as I have already noticed) more 
numerous, and the Himalayas of the Jummoo and Kangra districts 
are occupied by Hindu Rajpoots who are there altogether the domi- 
nant race. I do not know if the highest Rajpoots to the south east 

* It was somewhere suggested that the Gadoons or Jadoons just over the 
Indus, where that river issues from the Himalayas near Torbela, are Rajpoots, 
but that seems to be a mere conjecture, founded on a fancied resemblance to 
the name of a Rajpoot tribe. There is not the least doubt that the Gadoons 
are pure Pushtoo-speaking Pathans. 



88 



The Ethnology of India. 



would admit the equality, but the Kangra and Jummoo Rajas and 
their clans affect among themselves to be of very blue blood indeed, and 
they are certainly very fine handsome men. The Kangra Rajpoots in 
particular are very fair and handsome and High-Arian looking. I 
fancy that in all these hills, for a considerable distance to the east, 
there is a great deal of Kashmeeree or rather old Kasha blood. The 
women of the hills are in deserved repute and much sought after 
in the plains. The Kangra Rajas have endless genealogies, but I 
think that their clansmen are somewhat effeminate looking and not 
«rery first rate soldiers. The men of the Jummoo country, the im- 
mediate clansmen and subjects of the Maharaja of Cashmere, (and 
who also occupy the west of the Kangra district), commonly called 
Dogras, are not spoken of with so much Hindoo respect, and are not 
so pretty and be- jewelled looking as the Kangra men, but they are 
much more robust and brave. In the Punjab force, no men are pre- 
ferred to them as soldiers ; they are quiet, staunch, steady and reliable, 
without the disagreeable Hindustanee airs of the old Sepoy Rajpoots. 
The Rajpoot population of these hills must be very considerable. 
East of the Sutlej, in the Simla hills, many of the Rajas and their 
followers are Rajpoots, but most of the agriculturalists are of another 
caste called Kanaits. 

A large proportion of the Rajpoots scattered about the Eastern 
Punjab, Cis-Sutlej territory, and Dehli districts are now Mahomme- 
dans, as are occasional Rajpoot villages all over Hindustan and a good 
many Rajpoot Rajas, this being no doubt the result of the favour 
shown to the Rajpoots by the Mogul Emperors ; but east of Dehli 
conversion is quite the exception, by far the greater number are 
staunch Hindus. 

In the Gangetic valley the body of the Rajpoot population may 
be said to lie next to the Jats to the east, in the middle Doab, 
Rohilcund, and Oude ; and still farther east the country is shared 
with a Bramin population. Before Rohilcund (given as a jagheer to 
Rohillas) acquired its present name, it was known as the Rajpoot 
Province of Katerh, and to the present day in all lower Rohilcund 
the Rajpoot communities, (they are there called Thakoors) are strong 
and numerous. They are also numerous in Western Oude, but for 
what reason I know not, neither the Rohilcund men nor those of 



TJie Ethnology of India. 89 

Western Oude entered the Sepoy Army in large numbers. In the 
Central Doab, in the districts of Mynpooree, Futtehgurh, Etawah, &c. 
Rajpoots are numerous, and a good many of them served in the army. 
The Raja of Mynpooree is, I think, one of the highest of the famous 
Chouhan clan. The lower Doab is, as I have before noticed, more a 
Bramin country ; but Eastern Oude, especially most of the broad tract 
between the Gogra and the Ganges, is the home of the great Rajpoot 
population which supplied so large a proportion of the Sepoy Army. 
At home these Rajpoots are by no means a loose military class, but 
a purely agricultural population. The prejudice against the particular 
act of holding the plough which so many of them affect, is reduced 
to the narrowest possible limits, and many ex- Sepoys may now be 
seen grubbing up weeds, raising water by manual labour, and performing 
all the lowest agricultural functions. Baiswara, the country of the 
Bais Rajpoots, lying almost parallel to the Bramin country, of the 
lower Doab, is a famous nursery of Sepoys. In all this part of the 
country, so far as there still subsist ancient superior rights in the 
land, they belong to the heads of Rajpoot clans. 

Some of the inferior clansmen hold subordinate tenures and village 
proprietorships, but the great mass of the Rajpoots of Oude are now 
reduced to the position of mere ryots, in which capacity they are 
much intermixed with Bramins. Many of the superior rights have 
passed away to modern men. 

Passing to the east of Oude, Rajpoots are pretty numerous in 
Azimghur and Ghazeepore, but, as I have already mentioned, in the 
surrounding districts and those farther to east, the chief Rajas and 
landholders are the bastard Bramins or ' Bhamuns' whose clansmen 
abound in Behar. In the Arrah district only (in the east) in the small 
Doab between the Soane and the Ganges, the Rajpoots are strong and 
numerous. Their leader was the famous. rebel landholder, Koer Sing, 
and they supplied to the Native Army the numerous class known 
as ' Bhojpore' Sepoys. 

This is almost the limit of Rajpoot ethnological occupation to the 
east, but turning round to the south-west, the Raja of Rewah is 
chief of the Baghel Rajpoots (whence his country is called Baghelcund), 
and has no doubt a numerous following of his clansmen, though 
Aborigines on one side and Bramins on another are also numerous in 



90 The Ethnology of India. 

his territory. The Boondeelas of Bundlecund are not, I believe, con- 
sidered to be very pure Rajpoots ; they have probably suffered some 
intermixture, but they are notoriously bold and martial, form a domi- 
nant aristocracy, and used to be very troublesome to us. I do not 
know the proportion of Rajpoot population in Scindia's territories to 
the west, but believe that it is numerous. In Malwa, Rajpoots of the 
Rahtore, Chouhan, Sesodya and other clans form a large proportion of 
the population, and all the surrounding hilly country which is not 
held by pure Aborigines seems to have been from very old times in 
the possession of Rajpoot or semi -Rajpoot chiefs. The Me war or 
Oodeypore Rajpoots, occupying a strong and elevated country in the 
west, claim to be the most ancient of the race ; and I have seen it 
stated that some of the western Rajpoots are comparatively fair, with 
light or grey eyes. If so, that would seem to indicate that they 
reached their present location by a direct route from the west, and 
mot by doubling back from the Ganges, as is supposed to have been 
the case in northern Rajpootana. 

In the history of Gruzerat the Rajpoots are very famous, and many 
of them seem to have been of the same high-caste tribes whose blood 
is reputed the best in the east, the Waghels, for instance, being (it 
appears) the same as the Baghels. They are evidently still numerous, 
but I have not been able to ascertain what proportion of the popula- 
tion they form, and to what extent they take part in the actual cul- 
tivation. Forbes does not speak of them as if they were among the 
most numerous cultivators. 

In Kathywar, Rajpoots seem to he numerous, and from the practice 
of infanticide we may suppose that they consider themselves high- 
caste, but I cannot exactly make out whether the Kathis are counted 
as Rajpoots, or whether the many petty chiefs of Kathywar are prin- 
cipally Kathis or proper Rajpoots. The Kathis seem to have been 
undoubtedly immigrants from the west and at one time neighbours 
and allies of Jats. 

In Lower Seinde there are undoubted traces of ancient Rajpoot 
rale, and the Summa Rajpoots ruled more recently under the Mahom- 
medan emperors. Farther west, in Beloochistan, there seem to be 
traces of Hindu rule of a character more orthodox than that of the 
Jats ? but whether the Rajpoots ever had dominion there ? I am unable 
to say. 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



Looking back, it will be seen that (as I before said would be the 
case) I have traced the Rajpoots all round the edge of the more com- 
pact mass of the Jat population from the Salt Range through the 
Northern Punjab and adjoining hills to Rohilcund, Oude and the 
Centre Doab ; thence by Bundlecund through Scindia's territory, 
Malwa, Me war, Guzerat and Kattywar into Lower Scinde. 

There remains in the centre of this circuit the greater part of Raj- 
pootana which I have described as ethnologically more Jat than 
Rajpoot, though the Rajpoots now rule, after doubling back from the 
Ganges. They form a numerous and dominant aristocracy, organised 
on the feudal principles necessary to domination. 

Though a full and complete Rajpoot village mainly inhabited by 
Rajpoots is democratic in its constitution, I have never heard of a 
Rajpoot Republic on a larger scale ; and whether it be from long habits 
of domination by means of a feudal system, from the imbibing of a 
Hindu spirit, or from their original genius, they seem to be more than 
the Jats given to suffer the rule of Rajas and Chiefs. In Rajpootana, 
however, the chief seems generally to be but a chief, and not a despotic 
ruler. Numerous fiefs are held by subordinate chiefs, who are again 
surrounded by Military followers holding many petty jagheers and 
grants of land on a hereditary service tenure. It may well be sup- 
posed that under such circumstances, when the British peace-preserv- 
ing power is at all relaxed, the authority of the chiefs is very apt to 
collapse. They never could hold their own against the Marattas, 
But still, as a quasi-chivalrous aristocracy, with their bards, and 
genealogies, and military get-up, and contests about the possession 
of high-caste young ladies, they make a very pretty picture, 

The normal Rajpoot, however, to my view is, as I have said, the 
cultivator of the Gangetic valley, where, at the eastern extremity of 
the horse-shoe which I have described, they spread out in a broad 
region into a large population. Physically I do not know any strik- 
ing features which broadly distinguish the Gangetic Rajpoot from 
his neighbour the Gangetic Bramin. In a Sepoy Regiment, setting 
aside caste marks, &c, I doubt whether they could be distinguished. 
They are both in fact the type of the higher class of the modern 
Hindustanee population. Both are tall men, though in the native 
army Commanding Officers went in too much for height, and many 



92 



The Ethnoloyy of India. 



of the unpadded recruits looked at first rather lanky. The modern 
Rajpoots are quite as Hindu as, and a good deal more prejudiced 
than, the Bramins. In their own villages they are pleasant good 
fellows enough, but as Sepoys they were a disagreeable overbear- 
ing set, and, so far as I can gather, were upon the whole about the 
worst class in the mutiny. 

As agriculturalists their style of cultivation, &c, is much the same 
as that of the Jats, although very greatly inferior. They are very 
fond of land, and do not affect the finer garden cultivation but the 
broad farming style of agriculture. They also keep cattle when the 
country is fitted for it, and are very fond of laying their hands on 
other people's cattle when they have the chance, — a weakness from 
which the Jats also are not altogether free. 

They are as a rule wholly un-literary, and very much confine them- 
selves to the two professions of agriculture and arms. 

The Rajpoots everywhere speak dialects of the ordinary Hindee. 
I am not aware that any traces of any other language have ever been 
found among them. 

The Koonbees or Koormees. 

To the south of the Rajpoots and Jats, the country is mainly occu- 
pied by the class above mentioned. In all the central and eastern 
parts of the N. W. Provinces, or in fact of Hindustan generally, the 
Koormees are scattered about in considerable numbers as a well- 
known and very industrious class of quiet cultivators. They own 
villages of their own, and are also more widely spread in detached 
families or groups of families. They affect the finer garden style 
of cultivation much more than Jats and Rajpoots, and like the Jats 
are assisted by industrious women. 

As I shall afterwards notice, the Koonbees seem to be nearly con- 
nected with the Mallies, whose name we apply to the whole profession 
of gardeners. 

The name is variously written, Koormee or Ooormee, Kunabi, 
Kunbee or Koonbee, and there is no doubt that the terms are syno- 
nymous. 

In Hindustan the Koormees do not go much beyond their own 
agricultural calling, but they are not absolutely unknown as Sepoys, 



The Ethnology of India. 



93 



and they have occasionally, though rarely, risen to higher posts, espe- 
cially one somewhat notorious family in Oude. In fact, in the 
Grangetic valley the Koormees, though much appreciated as cultivators, 
are somewhat looked down upon by the higher castes as mere humble 
tillers of the soil. If we proceed south from the Lower Doab, towards 
the Jubbulpore and Saugor territories, Koormees become more numer- 
ous, and there are hereabouts a good many ' Lodhas,' a tribe appa- 
rently cognate to Koormees, and who are also pretty well known in the 
North West Provinces. They seem in this part of the Central Provin- 
ces to have at one time occupied a very considerable position. 
Thence westwards, on both sides of the Nerbudda, and still farther 
west to the north of the Nerbudda in parts of Malwa, that is in fact 
throughout the southern borders of Hindustan, Hindee-speaking 
Koormees are very numerous. In most of this country they are the 
chief cultivating class. In Malwa they meet the Jats and share with 
them the character of the most respectable and industrious cultivators. 
In Rajpootana there is a cultivating class called 1 Pittuls' who are 
supposed to be Koormees under another name. 

Farther west in Guzerat the Koonbees form the main body of the 
best cultivating population. They seem to be in the main the owners 
of the land, and though quiet and unpretending, are said to be still 
sturdy and independent and altogether a fine agricultural people. 

Throughout the whole of the Maratta country, the Koonbees are 
the main agricultural and landholding .tribe. Here also they generally 
are quiet simple agriculturalists, but the Maratta Koonbees do not seem 
to be so energetic and good in this way as their northern congeners. 
They have lived long under much oppression and subject to great 
disadvantages. In the Nagpore country, Berar and Candeish, however, 
they are now a sufficiently industrious and easily managed population. 
To the south, where they meet the Canarese in the Deccan, every one 
is agreed that the latter are decidedly superior in industry and agri- 
cultural energy. 

I have seen an allusion to Telinga Koonbees in the north-eastern 
portion of the Nizam's territory, in the country down the G-odavery 
below the limits of the Maratta tongue, but whether these are really 
Telingas of this caste, or whether the word is only used to express 
Telinga cultivators, I am not sure. 



94 The Ethnology of India. 

In Hindustan the Koormees, as a lower class, are on an average 
darker and less good looking than Bramins and Rajpoots, but still 
they are quite Arian in their features, institutions, and manners. So 
they are in the Maratta country ; indeed the Marattas are still known 
to the people of the south as 1 Aryas,' but they have probably towards 
the south a larger intermixture of Aboriginal blood, and it is noto- 
rious that the Marattas are small men compared to the northern tribes. 

The constitution of the Koonbees seems to be less democratic than 
that of J ats and Rajpoots. In the Maratta country (and indeed in 
the countries to the north of that also) the villages are for the most 
part ruled by hereditary patels or headmen without much trace of 
representation, so far as I could learn, and individual property in land 
has been in many parts subject to many changes and vicissitudes. 

Nothing puzzled me more than this, viz. to understand whence came 
the great Maratta Military element. In the Punjab one can easily 
understand the sources of Sikh power ; every peasant looks fit to be a 
soldier. But the great mass of the Maratta Koonbees look like 
nothing of the kind, and are the quietest and most obedient of hum- 
ble and unwarlike cultivators. On inquiry I gathered that in fact 
throughout by far the greater part of the Maratta-speaking country, 
all through Nagpore, Berar, and the Northern Bombay districts, the 
agricultural Koonbees furnish very few soldiers, nor ever did furnish 
many. Although the Koonbee element was the foundation of the 
Maratta power, though Sevajee and some of his chiefs were Koonbees, 
it appears that these people came almost exclusively from a compara- 
tively small district near Sattara, a hilly region where, as I judge, the 
Koonbees are very much mixed with numerous aboriginal and semi- 
aboriginal tribes of Mhars and others, and where, losing with the 
intermixture many of their agricultural virtues, they acquired more of 
the qualities of predatory soldiers. It is notorious that Sevajee 
relied principally on his ' Mawallees' of the Western Grhats, who were 
apparently little better than non-descript predatory tribes. In their 
best clays, it does not appear that the Marattas were ever Koonbees 
to the same extent and in the same sense that the Sikhs were Jats. 
In fact the Maratta confederacy was more a political than a personal 
union. Many of the oldest chiefs were not Koonbees. Holkar was of 
the shepherd, and the Guickwar was of the cow-herd caste. All these 



The Ethnology of India. 95 

as well as the Koonbees were quite illiterate, and would have done 
little without the directing power of the Bramins. When they were 
farther advanced, the Maratta forces seem to have been mere mercen- 
ary armies, a congregation of <^ery loose fortune-seeker of every race 
and class, Mahommedans included, with a nucleus of the population of 
Sattara and Poonah, from which the proper Maratta chiefs had sprung. 

Take them all in all, I think that the Koonbees must be considered 
one of the most important as well as one of the most useful and most 
easily governed tribes in India. A great territory is in the main 
theirs, extending from about 23° or 24° to about 16° Lat., and from the 
western frontiers of Guzerat to the countries watered by the Wyngunga 
and the Middle Goclavery, and the upper streams of the Nerbudda. 

Other Agricultural Tribes. 

I have traced the Jats, Rajpoots, and Koonbees as the three chief 
territorial tribes peculiar to Northern India. I must now go back to 
notice other landowning tribes intermixed with them. 

I shall take first the farming tribes, apt in the use of arms and of a 
constitution similar to the Jats and Rajpoots; these are principally 
found in the Punjab. Second, the tribes more or less pastoral in their 
proclivities, though now almost universally settled in agricultural 
communities. Third, the fine-farming or gardening tribes. 

I have noticed how much the Salt Range seems to be the northern 
limit of both Jats and Rajpoots. The people north of this range are 
a great puzzle. They are those who seem to me the finest and hand- 
somest in India, perhaps in the world. They are all now Mahom- 
medans, but are wholly Indian in their language, habits, manners, 
and constitutions. There can, I think, be no doubt of that ; the line 
between them and their Pathan neighbours is very distinctly drawn, 
the languages especially being totally different. Knowing the 
Pathans so well, any relationship with them is never suggested ; a 
Pathan is with them a Pathan, and a man of another tribe is not a 
Pathan. But they have fanciful Mussulman genealogies, the 
Dhoonds and Tanaolees from the Caliph Abbas, the Kurrals from 
Alexander the Great, the Awans from Roostam and the Gukkurs 
from some other Persian hero. 

There are a large number of petty tribes, very like one another, but 



96 The Ethnology of India. 

known by their own tribal names only ; they have no common appel- 
lation. On the one hand much in their features. &c. would seem to show 
that they have kindred with the Kashmeerees or with the pre- Hindu 
congeners of the earlier Indians found ii»the hills farther west ; on the 
other hand, their language and character, dress, and the architecture 
of their houses would indicate that they are nearly allied to the 
Punjabees. The language is altogether Punjabee. In these respects 
they wholly differ from Kashmeerees. Jats and Rajpoots are so well 
known that one would think that if they belonged to those tribes, 
they would say so. As it is, the only tribe which admits a Hindu- 
stanee origin, is that which seems to have the least claim to it, the 
Dilazaks, the predecessors of the present Pathan tribes in the Peshawar 
valley, and who seem to have themselves so considerable an infusion 
of Pathan blood that it has been doubted whether they are not earlier 
Pathans. 

The Swattees too, the people driven out of Swat by the Euzofzyes, 
though in the main of the blood which supplied the early Indians, 
must be considered pre-Hindus, and have now a considerable Pathan 
intermixture. 

The G-ukkurs were the rulers of the Rawal Pindee district in com- 
paratively modern times. They might possibly be foreign conquerors, 
but if so, it would seem singular that they should have completely 
lost their language, and so entirely assimilated to those around them. 
In appearance I do not think Gukkurs could be distinguished from 
Awans. Both are very large fine men, but not exceedingly fair, in- 
habiting as they do a dry, bare, rather low country, hot in summer. 
The Awans are the most numerous of these frontier tribes, and the 
best ; there is no finer people in India. They are settled in large 
agricultural communities in the 1 Chuch' plain, immediately facing 
the Peshawur valley on this side the Indus, and are also found in 
smaller bodies somewhat to the east, in the Jhelum. Guzerat, and 
Sealkot districts. They are good soldiers as well as good cultivators, 
and might be taken for the best class of Jats. 

The Dhoonds and Tanaolees are to the north in the outer range 
of the Himalaya and about the Indus near Torbela. I have not been 
in the Tanaolee country, but the Dhoonds seemed to me to be the hand- 
somest among handsome tribes. It is to be remarked, however, that 



The Ethnology of India. 



in the country far towards the frontier in this direction, the people 
who are the fairest and handsomest, are not considered the most 
plucky and trustworthy ; the blood of Cashmere and Swat does not 
seem altogether to tend to these latter qualities. I cannot attempt 
to trace the minor tribes of Alpials, &c. &c. &c. Both the A wans 
of the lower lands and the Dhoonds, &a. of the higher lands seem 
to have democratic village constitutions. 

Till we know something of the language of the tribes of the hills 
west of Cashmere, it would not be safe to speculate on the origin of 
the people of this corner of India. If the language of the hills is 
nearly allied to the Hindee and the Punjabee, we may suppose that 
these are Indianised tribes from the same source. If on the other 
hand the hill tribes speak a tongue of an earlier Arian form, then we 
must look to people of the blood of the Jats and Rajpoots for the 
introduction of the Hindee form of speech both here and in the rest 
of Hindustan. Looking to the want of any proper tribal name of 
the Rajpoots, it might be that before they became famous in Hindu 
story, some of them occupying the Punjab surmounted the Salt Range 
and mixing with some aboriginal Caucasians, formed the present 
tribes. Nowhere is there room for more interesting inquiry than in 
this direction. 

Passing farther down in the Punjab I only remember one class of 
the character that I am now describing, the Doghnrs, a Mahommedaii 
tribe found near the Sutlej, fine, good-looking, high-featured men, but 
not very reliable and rather given to cattle-lifting. I do not know 
their origin. 

Beyond the Sutlej again I have mentioned the Bhattees of Bha- 
teeana, whose origin is also obscure. But they are certainly one of 
the very finest and handsomest tribes in India. 

In the Simla hills, most of the land is held by a local tribe called 
Kanaits. They are inferior in position to Rajpoots, more perhaps of 
the level of Koormees and Lodhas, but they are often educated, and 
men of this class are generally ministers to the Rajpoot chiefs. In 
certain places there is a partial and local practice of polyandry among 
them, but it is not the general custom of the tribe. All those who 
are not (in the upper hills) in contact with Tartars are quite Arian, 
though not very large ; the women very nice-looking. 



98 The Ethnology of India, 

It will also, I think, be proper to mention the Indian Pathans, 
before I leave my present class of Fighting-Farmers. 

I do not now touch on the proper Pushtoo-speaking Pathans. I do 
not reckon them as Indian, and all the Pathans beyond the Indus, as 
well as a few on this side (in the north of the Hazareh District and 
west of that of Rawal Pindee), are Pushtoo-speakers. The Pathans 
are the only Central- Asiatic people who have in comparatively 
modern times colonised to a considerable extent in India. They have 
never come in large bodies, nor occupied any large tracts at any one 
spot, but Afghanistan has always been as it were the base of opera- 
tions of all the successive Mahommedan Empires in India ; and from 
that base Pathans have immigrated in the service or under the pro- 
tection of Mahommedan rulers, and have settled themselves here and 
there at many places throughout Northern India and even in some 
places in Southern India. They are not nearly so much mere Urban 
fortune-seekers as other Mahommedans, but are generally settled in 
villages, in many of which they own and cultivate the soil, and in 
some of which they form large brotherhoods, approaching those of 
Jats and Rajpoots. Their constitution and modes of government also 
seem to me to be in these villages very similar. They have been 
generally a favoured class who have had in places a good deal of 
jagheer and rent-free land, and still look a good deal to service, but 
many of them pay their rent or revenue by honest cultivation like 
any one else. Indian society is a wonderful solvent and absorbent ; 
every one who long lives in it, becomes Indianised ; and so all the 
Pathan colonists, even those whose immigrations are matter of recent 
history, are essentially Indian, not Afghan. Among Indians, they 
have very marked characteristics, but their nationality is changed, and 
the Pathans from the Frontier, who came down in the mutiny times, 
utterly refused to acknowledge the proudest Indian Pathans as 
having anything in common with themselves, and chopped off their 
heads with the utmost non-chalance. In many respects, however, the 
Indian Pathans are a very great improvement on the wilder Pathans 
of the Frontier. They are very much more civilised and educated. 
In India, in fact, the Pathans are quite an aristocratic class. Not- 
withstanding the wide door to corruption of blood opened by the 
Mahommedan laws of marriage, they are still a very handsome people j 



The Ethnology of India, 



99 



a large proportion of them are in a respectable well-to-do position, 
and many of them are very well educated. After all a well-educated 
Mahommedan has much more in common with us than most Hindus, 
and comes much nearer our idea of a gentleman. It may be, too, that 
these Pathans retain some little trace of that non-Indian character 
which makes us readily become familiar with Affghans. Altogether 
I have no hesitation in saying that (putting the Punjab apart), among 
Hindustanees, the Pathans are by far the best class with whom we 
come in contact. They have always been very numerous in our 
Irregular Cavalry and also had a large share in our Civil Service. I 
shall be sorry, if, partly on account of the more insinuating and it 
may be in some respects sharper character of subservient Hindus, and 
partly from the difficulty of imposing our education on those who 
have already an education of their own, these and other Mahommedans 
are gradually extruded from the public service. 

Pathan settlements are dotted here and there about the Punjab, 
but they are not very numerous. In Hindustan they are more 
so. They are found about Dehli, and are very numerous in the 
Upper Doab and Rohilcund, though it must not be supposed that 
the latter is really a Rohilla country ; it is only a Rohilla jagheer, and 
the Pathans, though positively numerous, are relatively but a small 
minority of the population. It may be mentioned that the term 
' Rohilla' does not signify any particular tribe, but is applied in India 
to Pathans generally, meaning apparently " mountaineer." The Rohil- 
cund and Dehli Provinces are the chief nurseries of Pathan soldiers, 
&c, but all over Hindustan, and indeed all over India, Pathan Princi- 
palities and Jagheers, Pathan settlements, and Pathan families are 
found here and there. 

It will be well here to dispose of the other Mahommedan settlers, 
that is, Mahommedans who do not own or cannot be traced to a 
Hindu origin. With the exception of the Pathans, their origin is, 
in fact, generally obscure and doubtless very mixed. 

The name of Mogul is assumed by but few, and whatever the word 
may originally have been, it must be understood that it does not now 
in India in any degree mean ' Mongol.' There is no ethnological 
trace of Mongol immigration into India. Even the leaders who 
inherited Mongol claims had, in fact, changed their blood in passing 

L of G. 



100 



Hie Ethnology of India 



through Persian aftd Affghan peoples. And on the Frontier, the term 
Mogtil is now applied to Persian-speakers., as distinguished from 
Pushtoo- speaking Pathans. Most people will there tell you that 
f Mogul' means a Persian, hut it is really a somewhat wider designa- 
tion. In Cahul, the Mahommedan population is simply divided into 
Pathans and Moguls (or non-Pathans), the latter "being chiefly compos- 
ed of Persian Kazzilbashes and the like. So then in the armies and 
ioTlowings of the Emperors of I>ehli, Foreigners were divided into 
Pathans and Moguls ; hut while the Pathan settlers are many, the 
Moguls are, as I have said, very few. 

In small Mahommedan countries there are numerous people claim- 
ing to be descendants of the prophet after the easy Mahommedan 
form of descent. Indian Syuds are generally mere loose waifs of 
low degree among the Urban population ; but here and there we have 
considerable settlements of Syuds holding villages or jagheers, and 
where these occur, they generally claim and maintain a good deal of 
dignity and propriety, and are a superior and well educated, if some- 
times somewhat bigoted, class. 

It is generally said that a 1 Sheik' means only a Mahommedan who 
is neither Pathan, Mogul, nor Syud. There are, however, a good 
many respectable landholders, and some village communities who bear 
the name of Sheiks ; for instance, the old proprietors of Lucknow, when 
it was but a village, were Sheiks. It is impossible to trace the 
origin of these people, much less that of the loose Urban Mahomme- 
dan population. But I think it may be said that, generally speaking, 
the Mahommedans retain among them considerable traces of north- 
western origin. Dress and manners may have something to do with 
it and there are of course many exceptions, but on an average they 
are fairer and show fewer marks of aboriginal intermixture than the 
Hindus. High-Arian features are not unfrequently to be seen among 
them. Even among those who do not directly claim to belong to 
Pathan and other tribes of the North- West, one often sees handsome 
faces, features, and beards, such as would make good ' wise men of the 
east,' or the very best of our oriental imaginings. It is impossible to 
attribute to these features, in Northern, Central and Eastern India, a 
Semitic origin (on the South Western borders it is another matter), and 
I attribute them to the hilly countries of the North-Western Ariansv 



The Ethnology of India. 



101 



Of the races which I call in some respect pastoral, I will take first 
The Goojars. 

They have been long known to us as cultivators of predatory pro- 
clivities in the country about Dehli, and after 50 years of enforced 
peace and quietness, they distinguished themselves by breaking out 
into wholesale plunder all over that district within a few hours of the 
out-break of the mutiny, just as if the present generation had been 
accustomed to it all their lives. However, we must take a w T ider 
survey, for the Goojars are a far extending people, numerous in the 
Punjab and on the Northern Frontier. In fact, they now extend 
farther to the North- West than any other Indian people. I understand 
that they are still numerous in Swat and the adjacent hills, and they 
are said to have been the original inhabitants and owners of part of 
the Hazareh District, on this side the Indus, before they were in great 
degree dispossessed by the Swattees, themselves pushed forward by 
the Affghans. In the hills about Kashmere the Goojars are very 
numerous ; and there more than anywhere else they have an actual 
pastoral character, being apparently somewhat vagrant in their habits, 
and at one season receiving the cattle of the Kashmeerees to graze, 
while at another they bring their own down for sale. Perhaps 
these are the Goojars who were dispossessed of their homes in 
Hazareh. It is supposed that in the event of any disturbance in 
Kashmere, they might visit the valley for other than pastoral purposes. 

Descending into the plains of the Punjab, we find the Goojars about 
Goojerat and the country thereabouts in very much better repute than 
elsewhere, in fact they are there said to be among the best cultivators. 
They are very numerous, settled in prosperous communities, and give, 
it appears, their name to the town and thence to the district of 
Goojerat. There might be some question whether the word is not 
the Persian one, ' Goozerat,' i. e. 1 Fords' or { Ferries,' in allusion to 
the ferries over several rivers thereabouts, but I understand that it 
is really Goojerat from Goojar. And there are frequent names in 
the Punjab derived from the same source. In fact, Goojars are very 
much mixed with Jats in all the northern, if not in all the Jat 
country, and form a considerable proportion of the population. About 
Dehli they are, as I have said, very numerous, and they are so in the 
Meerut and Seharanpore Districts of the Doab. They are numerous 



102 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



in all Northern Rajpoot ana, and extend into Malwa and the adjoining 
parts of Central India.* They there extend as far east as Bundle- 
cund, where one of the chiefs is a Goojar. But in the other 
direction they do not approach Goozerat, and, so far as I can learn 
have never been known there. I believe that the Bombay ' Goozerat' 
is a name derived from some other source. Its proper form is said 
to be Gurjaratj derived from £ Gurjar' Princes. I do not know the 
derivation of this last term, but there are Gurjat Chiefs in the 
Cuttack and Southern Nagpore territories, where there are no Goojars. 
I fancy, however, that I have heard it said (though I cannot now 
trace the source), that a similarity of names can be traced between 
places in Goozerat and in the Punjab Goojerat. If that be really so, 
it would open up an interesting inquiry. To prevent mistake, I 
should here notice that in the Bombay Presidency the word 1 Goozar' 
is used, not to signify a Goojar in the northern sense, but merely 
an inhabitant of Goozerat, as thus 1 Goozar Bramins/ ' Goozar 
Banians.' 

The Goojars are generally a fair good looking people, especially 
towards the frontier, and have no aboriginal traces about them. 
Those located to the east trace their origin from the west. All, I 
think, to the north of Dehli are now Mahommedans ; but those to the 
east and south of that place are sometimes half-Mahommedans, some- 
times a sort of Hindus, though of so lax a character that I believe 
they are hardly admitted within the pale, and are considered to be in 
some degree a sect apart. They are sometimes said by the natives to 
have a language of their own ; at least so I was told in the Punjab. 
It may not improbably be that this is only the patois of one province 
carried by them into another, but it would be interesting to inquire 
whether they may possibly have among themselves some sort of 
Gypsy tongue. Their most proper calling seems to be the keeping 
of cattle and buffaloes, not sheep ; but they do not generally exercise 
this as a mere caste profession among the general population. They 

* The last Nagpore Prince is stated to have been a Goojar adopted into 
the family, the son of ' Nane Goojar,' but I apprehend that there must be 
some mistake, as the Nagpore family were, I believe, Maratta Koonbees, of the 
same race as the Sattara family. Either ' Goojar' must be here a mere name 
or title of the individual, or the allusion must be to some supposed indiscretion 
of a lady of the family. 



The Ethnology of India. 



103 



me usually settled in separate villages of their own, and in the absence 
of pastoral and predatory opportunities are cultivators, like other 
tribes, though in most places indifferent ones. 

I shall here just mention 1 Mewattees,' not because I am prepared 
to class them as ■ Pastorals,' but because they are very frequently 
classed with Goojars, as " Goojars and Mewattees," with reference to 
their plundering propensities. In fact, although I have always been 
familiar with Mewattees as a very thieving tribe of cultivators found 
here and there along the south-western borders of the North West Pro- 
vinces, I have not been able to make out what they really are. They seem 
to come from the Central country, from somewhere in Rajpootana or 
Central India, and their name might seem to indicate a connection 
with Mewar. I have seen mention of ' Mewassees,' hill chiefs, in those 
parts, but don't know if they are connected with the Mewattees. In 
fact, the Alwar country near Dehli seems to have been of late 
called ' Mewat.' Mewattees are mentioned as common in Malwa in 
the characters of irregular soldiers and depredators. They extend 
farther east than the Goojars. I think the villages razed to the 
ground in the station of Allahabad, for their predatory activity in the 
mutiny, were those of Mewattees. My impression is that they are 
mostly Mahommedans and not bad looking, but in truth I know and 
can find very little about them. 

The Goojars are succeeded as cattle-keepers to the east and south 
by the ' Aheers,' who seem to be the pastoral element of the Rajpoot 
and Bramin countries, as the Goojars are of the Jat countries. 
Aheers and Goojars are sometimes spoken of as if connected, but 
that I believe is an error arising from mere coincidence of profession. 
Meeting as they do in the country east and south of Dehli, they keep 
entirely apart (in a social point of view), and are universally recognis- 
ed as entirely separate and distinct castes, with no connection what- 
ever. The Aheers are not a very strict sect of Hindus in the modern 
sense, and their widows re-marry, but still they are decided Hindus 
of the respectable position which their charge of the sacred animal 
demands. In the strictest days of caste there were a good many 
Aheers in the Sepoy army. They are good and upper-class-looking 
Hindustanees. Like the Goojars, they are not a mere cow-keeping 
oaste, but have many independent villages, and in some parts of the 



104 



The Ethnology of India. 



country are in considerable tracts almost the principal landholding 
class. Under these circumstances they are very fair agriculturalists, 
only a little given to cattle-lifting, when opportunity offers. Besides 
the Aheer villages, families of the caste are much spread about the 
country as cultivators and herdsmen, ' Ghosees' also, common as 
buffaloe-keepers, are said to be related to the Aheers ; they are, I think, 
Aheers converted to Mahommedansm. Except in the country occu- 
pied by Jats and Goojars, Aheers are found all over Hindustan, but 
do not generally extend east into Bengal. There are many of them 
just between the proper Jat and the Rajpoot country about the 
Ganges, to the east of Meerut and Allyghur, and on the other side 
in part of Rohilcund, and they seem to extend into the south-east of 
Rajpootana and of the Dehli territory, and are found about the Jumna 
near Mnttra, and in many places farther east. In the Benares and 
Behar Divisions there are also many of them. 

Thence through Central India I am not prepared to say what pro- 
portion of the population are Aheers, but they were certainly very 
famous in old time on the Southern frontiers of Hindustan, in 
Guzerat, and in the Maratta country. The famous Fort of Asseerghur 
derives its name from Asa Aheer, a noted leader of this tribe, and 
Aheers are still, I believe, found in those parts. They are said to 
have been once powerful in Goozerat and to be still numerous in 
Kattywar. That western country is stated in fact to have been 
formerly called ' Abhira' or the country of the Aheers. And thence 
southwards, it seems probable that Aheers were one of the principal 
Hindu races who along with the Bramins conquered and colonised 
Southern India. Bramins and Herdsmen are said to have been the 
first conquerors, and the Aheers may probably be the progenitors of 
the cowherd castes who are still numerous in the Southern Districts. 
One can only suppose Goozerat to have been a Goojar country, by 
assuming Goo jars and Aheers to have been originally identical, which 
at any rate would require that we should go back a very long way. 
The subject is, however, worthy of inquiry. 

Besides the Aheers known in the Maratta Districts, there seems to 
be in the south of that country and also in the Canarese country a 
quiet respectable class of cultivators called < Dhangurs.' The word 
is translated ' Shepherds,' but I have also seen it stated that the 



The Ethnology of India. 105 

Dhangurs and Aheers are nearly the same. It would be well to 
know more on the point. 

In Hindustan sheep and goat herds, < Gaderias,' form a separate and 
very inferior caste and profession. They have no villages of their 
own, but tend sheep in the villages in which they reside. 

In Bengal Proper and Orissa, the Aheers are succeeded by the 
Gwallas, whom I have already incidentally noticed as very different 
in their style, manners and occupations. ' Gwalla' is not a tribal 
name, but merely means a cowkeeper (from the old Sanscritic word, 
go, a cow), so that the name does not necessarily imply any tribal 
connection with the Gwallas of the south and elsewhere. The 
Gwallas (as I have before noticed) are, with their congeners the 
' Satgopes,' by far the most numerous Hindu caste in Bengal ; and as 
Bengal is not much of a grazing country, they constitute a large 
proportion of the cultivators, besides carrying palanquins, acting as 
domestic servants, and following some other avocations. In the jail 
returns they are about 13 per cent, of the non-Mahommedans, that 
is, of Hindus and Aborigines of all sorts taken together ; and as 
Aheers prevail in Behar, it is probable that in Bengal and Orissa the 
Gwallas amount to fully 20 per cent. 

There are no democratic villages in Bengal ; indeed village commu- 
nities in the proper sense, with anything like a municipal constitution 
of any kind, can hardly be said to exist ; the Province is in that 
respect peculiar. Consequently it is unnecessary to add that the 
Gwallas are not in regular communities. They are scattered about the' 
country. I believe that they have frequently acquired rights in the 
land and attained to respectable positions. They seem to be a quiet 
decent set of people. 

I am not well versed in the manners and customs of the Bengallees, 
and there seems to be a great want of information on the subject, 
which I trust may be supplied. 

I have before hazarded a conjecture whether the Bengallee Gwallas 
may not have been formed on the basis of the Aboriginal Bhooyas. 

Of the fine cultivators or gardeners, the most important are — - 
The Mallies, 

to whom I have alluded as apparently allied to the Koormees, and 
who are not only the humble gardeners to whom Europeans ordinarily 



106 



The Ethnology of India. 



apply the name (as to a profession), but a considerable and far extended 
people. On the Frontier, above the Salt Range and extending np into 
Peshawar, there is a considerable class of £ Mulleals' who are I believe 
Mallies (though like most of the people of those parts now Mahom- 
medans), and who are very industrious cultivators and gardeners. 

Throughout the plains of the Punjab, there is again a very im- 
portant and numerous class who seem to be allied to the above, 
called Raees or Raeens. These people have generally villages of their 
own, or hold divisions of villages on equal terms with Jats and others, 
and under a similar constitution. They chiefly affect the best lands 
and finer cultivation, where they pay a high revenue and are much 
appreciated by native governments ; for they are probably, on the 
whole, the best cultivators in the Province. They are not martial, 
but are generally (like almost all Punjabee Mahommedans) fair and 
good-looking men. They are all, so far as I know, Mahommedans, 
which may account for their bearing a different name from their 
Hindu congeners, if congeners they be. So far as I am aware, they 
are not known by this name beyond the Punjab. 

A little farther east, long before we come to the Koormees, we meet 
with Hindu Mallies. I know that between Umballa and Dehli, in the 
Khytul country (one by nature very little suited for gardening 
operations), there are a good many Mallie villages. In the North West 
Provinces I do not think that they are much known as independent 
landholders, but as gardeners they are scattered about. I find men- 
tion made of them as common about Ajmere and on the Southern 
frontier of Hindustan. Beyond Jubbulpore they are common, mixed 
with the Koormees. Thence going onwards to the Maratta country, 
in Nagpore also they share the country with the Koonbees, and are 
the class next in importance to these latter. In fact, in all this part 
of Central India, (the southern limits of Hindustan and the Maratta 
country), Koormees and Mallies seemed to be classed together. The 
Patels, I learned, were either Koonbees or Mallies, and they often 
divided the same villages. The two classes (I was told by the Patels 
of the Nagpore country) will eat together, but do not intermarry. 
In this latitude both Mallees and Koormees extend far to the east. 
I find mention of the former in Oiissa, and of the latter in Maunbhoom 
and other districts of Chota-Nagpore, 



The Ethnology of India. 107 

The Lodhas I have already mentioned as connected with and of the 
same character as the Koonbees, though they are strictly speaking 
distinct from them. 

The remaining classes of Northern India, whose proper profession is 
cultivation or gardening, have not generally, to my knowledge, villages 
of their own. There are, however, scattered through most villages in 
Hindustan many industrious Kachees and Koerees and Morows (tobacco 
cultivators) and Kumbohs, and some (though not many) who have no 
other caste name than that of 1 Kisan' or cultivator. The farther we 
go down in the scale, the greater seems to be the infusion of aboriginal 
blood, the shorter is the stature, the darker the skin, and the more low- 
Arian the features ; but in none of these decent castes of Hindustan do 
the features or the complexion and hair assume at all an aboriginal type. 

In Bengal the names of castes are different, and there very many of 
the cultivators, the majority I believe in all Eastern Bengal, are 
Mahommedans, whose original caste and ethnological history I am 
at present unable to discover. Among Hindus, the most numerous 
castes after Gwallas, Bramins, and Kaists, are Bagdees (who are I am 
told of an inferior and aboriginal type), and a decent class of cultiva- 
tors called Kyburtos. I am as yet altogether puzzled about the 
ethnology of the mass of Bengal ryots. Most of them, though dark, 
look Arian, but some are very dark, and have a decided tendency to a 
thickness of lip, and to some features either Aboriginal or Indo- 
Chinese. I am half inclined to think that there are two types among 
them. Some of them seem to have a great tendency to curly hair, 
and to a cast of features which I should be disposed to attribute to 
the influence of the black woolly-headed Aborigines, who may have 
stretched across from the Rajmahal to the Grarrow hills. Others, 
especially the Ooryahs, with the Bhooyas of those parts and some of 
the Bengalees, seem rather to have straight hair with high cheek 
bones and complexions not very dark, which might suggest an Indo- 
Chinese element stretching from Burmah across the Soonderbuns. 
But I have acknowledged that I do not understand Bengal, and I 
hope that others will throw more light on it. 

The inferior Helot classes, who generally, all over Northern India, 
cultivate to a considerable extent, either on their own account, or as 
the servants of others, I leave for another division of my subject. 



108 The Ethnology of India. 

It must, however, be understood that a good deal of cultivation, in 
most parts of the country, is carried on by miscellaneous cultivators 
of a great variety of classes, who by caste properly belong to other 
professions. Cultivation is the one profession which is open to all 
alike, and is occasionally followed by almost all. In a great part of 
Hindustan in particular, wherever Kajpoots and Bramins are compara- 
tively few, and Koerees and Kachees are not numerous, there is in the 
present state of cultivation a large space not occupied by the classes 
which I have enumerated, and lists of tenant cultivators of these tracts 
present a very great variety. It is the same in Bengal. The caste 
of 1 Telees' are supposed to be properly oil-manufacturers, but whether 
(seeing the large growth of oilseeds) they were also in their origin 
oil-growers, or whether their multiplication is accidental, they certainly 
in many parts of the country form an important and respectable 
section of the agricultural community. Many of them are found both 
in Hindustan and in the Bombay Presidency, and in Bengal and 
Orissa they are particularly numerous and well-to-do. In Bengal the 
Tantees or weavers are also a prosperous class, and own a good deal 
of land. 

The Chumars or leather workers form a large proportion of the 
population of Hindustan, and are both labourers and cultivators, but 
they may perhaps better be put among the inferior labouring classes. 

For the rest the list of cultivating artisans and others would be 
endless. They must be classed under their own professions. 

The Mercantille Classes. 
First under this head, I will put — 

The Khatrees. 

Trade is their main occupation, but in fact they have broad - 
«r and more distinguished functions. Besides monopolising the 
trade of the Punjab and the greater part of Affghanistan, and 
doing a good deal beyond those limits, they are in the Punjab the 
chief civil administrators, and have almost all literate work in their 
hands. So far as the Sikhs have a priesthood, they are moreover the 
priests or gooroos of the Sikhs ; both Nanuk and Govind were, and 
the Sodees and Bedees of the present day are, Khatrees. Thus then 



The Ethnology of India. 



109 



they are in fact in the Punjab, so far as a more energetic race will 
permit them, all that the Maratta Bramins are in the Maratta country, 
besides engrossing the trade which the Maratta Bramins have not. 
They are not usually military in their character, but are quite capa- 
ble of using the sword when necessary. Dewan Sawan Mull, Gover- 
nor of Mooltan (and his notorious successor Moolraj), and very many 
of Kunjeet Sing's chief functionaries were Khatrees. Even under 
Mahommedan rulers in the west, they have risen to high administra- 
tive posts ; there is record of a 'Khatree Dewan of Badakshan or 
Koondooz, and I believe of a Khatree Governor of Peshawar under the 
Affghans. The Emperor Akbar's famous minister, Toclar Mull, was 
a Khatree ; and (though I was not before aware of it) a relative of 
that man of undoubted energy, the great Commissariat Contractor of 
Agra, J otee Pershad, lately informed me that he also is a Khatree. 
Altogether there can be no doubt that these Khatrees are one of the 
most acute, energetic, and remarkable races in India, though in fact 
(except locally in the Punjab) they are not much known to Euro- 
peans. They are, either on account of their name confounded with 
Rajpoots (by those who only see the name), or more frequently, on 
account of their mercantile profession, are confounded with the Bun- 
neahs or Banians, with whom socially (as matter of tribe and caste) 
they have no connection whatever. The Khatrees are staunch Hin- 
dus, and it is somewhat singular that, while giving a religion and 
priests to the Sikhs, they themselves are comparatively seldom Sikhs, 
And though, judged by a modern Hindu standard, they can hardly 
penetrate as they do into Central Asia with much regard for caste, 
they show their staunchness by never succumbing to the Mahomme- 
dan faith, where all the Indians around them have clone so. I scarcely 
think that there are such people as Mahommedan Khatrees in lati- 
tudes where Jats, Rajpoots, and others are all Mahommedan ; and 
even in Afghanistan they seem to maintain their faith intact. The 
Khatrees are a very fine, fair, handsome race. And as may be gather- 
ed from what I have already said, they are very generally educated. 
There is a large subordinate class of Khatrees, somewhat lower, but of 
equal mercantile energy, called Rors or Roras. The proper Khatrees 
of higher grade will often deny all connection with them, or at least 
only admit that they have some sort of bastard kindred with Khatrees, 



110 The Ethnology of India. 

but I think there can, be no doubt that they are ethnologically the 
same, and they are certainly mixed up with Khatrees in their avoca- 
tions. I shall treat the whole kindred as generically Khatrees. 
Though the Rors have not usually risen to such high posts, at 
least one of Runjeet Sing's ministers was of this class. 

Speaking of the Khatrees then thus broadly, they have, as I have 
said, the whole* trade of the Punjab and of most of Affghanistan. No 
village can get on without the Khatree who keeps the accounts, does 
the banking business, and buys and sells the grain. They seem too 
to get on with the people better than most traders and usurers of this 
kind. Of course, like all people so situated, they are often a good 
deal abused, but in a Punjabee village I think that the Khatree is 
generally rather a popular character and on friendly terms with his 
clients ; at any rate they appreciate the necessity for him, and are by 
no means anxious to get rid of him. In Affghanistan, among a rough 
and alien people, notwithstanding occasional exceptions, the Khatrees 
are as a rule confined to the position of humble dealers, shop-keepers 
and money-lenders ; but in that capacity the Pathans seem to look on 
them as a kind of valuable animal, and a Pathan will steal another 
man's Khatree, not only for the sake of ransom (as is frequently done 
on the Peshawar and Hazarah frontier), but also as he might steal a 
milch-cow, or as Jews might, I dare say, be carried off in the middle 
ages, with a view to render them profitable. 

I do not know the exact limits of Khatree occupation to the west, 
but certainly in all eastern Affghanistan they seem to be just as 
much a part of the established community as they are in the Punjab. 
They find their way far into Central Asia, but the farther they get, 
the more depressed and humiliating is their position. In Turkistan, 
Vambery speaks of them with great contempt as yellow-faced 
Hindus of a cowardly and sneaking character. Under Turcoman 
rule, they could hardly be otherwise. They have even found their 
way to St. Petersburgh and made money there. They are in fact 
the only Hindus known in Central Asia. 

In the Punjab they are so numerous that they cannot all be rich 
and mercantile, and many of them hold land, cultivate, take service, 
and follow various avocations. But I do not think that there is in 
the plains such a thing as a Khatree village or Khatree community, 



The Ethnology of India. Ill 

such as I have described to be the social form of other castes. They 
are always mixed among other classes. 

It is somewhat singular that the Khatrees, so important in Affgha- 
nistan, and who also push so far into Central Asia, are altogether 
excluded from Bramin Kashmere ; they are not found there at all. In 
point of acuteness, I fancy it is an instance of ' two of a trade.' In the 
hills, however, the ' Kukkas' on the east bank of the Jhelum are said 
to have been originally Khatrees, (they are a curiously handsome race) ; 
and in the interior of the Kangra hills there is an interesting race of 
fine patriarchal-looking shepherds called 1 G-addees,' most of whom are 
Khatrees. There are some Bramins among them, and some of low 
caste, but the great majority are Khatrees, and their story is that 
they are the remnant of the former rulers of the plains of the Punjab, 
driven to the hills by conquering invaders. They are a very pleasant, 
frank, simple people, quite apart from their present neighbours, and a 
great puzzle. Khatree traders are numerous in Dehli, are found in 
Agra, Lucknow and Patna, and are well known in the Burra Bazar 
of Calcutta (though there they are principally connected with Punjab 
firms). But as soon as they pass east from the limits of the Punjab, 
they get into the mercantile field of the Bunneeahs, who are quite 
their equals in mere mercantile ability where little physical courage 
is required, and in the Bunneeah country the Khatree merchants are 
mere exceptions in large towns. 

In Behar there seems to be a considerable agricultural class called 
Kshatrees, Chatrees, or Khatrees, who are distinct from and considered 
to be somewhat lower in rank than .Rajpoots. They seem somewhat 
to affect a Military character, sometimes serve, I believe, as soldiers, 
and are well known as ' Darwans' and the like in Calcutta. Bucha- 
nan seems to have been inclined to suppose that they are really Kha- 
trees from the west, but I have not yet been able to ascertain whe- 
ther they are in truth of the same caste as the mercantile Khatrees. 

I do not know the exact limits of the Khatrees to the south. I 
have not visited Mooltan which is a great mercantile centre 6? the 
race, and cannot accurately distinguish between Khatree and Bun- 
neeah sects called by their sub-tribal names. The term ' Mooltanees' 
seems to be applied to several trading sects in different parts of Cen- 
tral India, &c, some apparently wandering Pathan traders, and some, 



112 The Ethnology of India. 

I suspect, of some Khatree sect. The Khatrees do not seem as a rule 
to reach the western Coast ; the Ghizerat and Cutch traders appear 
to be Bunneeahs (or Banians) not Khatrees, and in the Bombay 
market I cannot find that they have any considerable place. In 
-Scinde, however, I find (in Captain Burton's book) an account of a 
race of " pretended Khsatryas who are really Banians of the 
Nanuk-Shahi (Sikh) faith," and who trade* and have a large share 
of public offices. These are evidently Khatrees. I had supposed the 
Lohanee merchants to be Pathans coming under much the same cate- 
gory as the " Povindeahs," but again Captain Burton makes mention 
of the " Lohanos, a Mooltanee caste of Banians," a robust and good- 
looking race who trade with Central Asia, and also with the Arabian 
Coast, who form a very large proportion of the Government servants 
in Scinde, and who also do some agriculture and labour. I cannot at 
this moment ascertain whether these Lohanos are really Banians or 
Khatrees, probably I think the latter. Palgrave again mentions 
among the Indian traders of the Arabian Coast, as distinguished from 
Banians, people whom he calls ' Loothians' or Loodianah men. I 
take it that these must be Khatrees, unless indeed they may possibly 
be Kashmeree shawl merchants. Loodianah is a large and thriving 
town of mercantile Khatrees, with a numerous colony of Kashmeree 
shawl-weavers. 

The Khatrees claim to be the descendants of the old Kshatryas, 
and I am inclined to think that they really have the best claim to 
that honour. With all their enterprise, it is difficult to imagine them 
so completely domiciled in Affghanistan, among so alien a people, if 
they are entirely foreigners in that country. It is well known that 
the Pathans themselves have advanced into the North Eastern por- 
tion of the country which we call Affghanistan, within comparatively 
recent and historical times ; and although the upper valleys of the 
Indian Caucasus have probably all along been held by pre-Hindu 
tribes, there seems to be little doubt that the lower valleys of the 
CaD%l country were once Hindu. To this day the peaks of the 
' Sufed Koh' between Jalalabad and Cabul bear the palpably Hindu 
names of " Seeta Bam" and such like. 

The old Sanscrit books make the Bramins and Khsatryas to have 
remotely sprung from a common origin. May it not be that in early 



The Ethnology of India. 



113 



Aryan days the Bramins of Kashmere may first have become literary 
and civilised, and ruled on the Saraswatee by peaceful arts, after the 
fashion of the earliest Egyptians before the art of war was invented, 
("See M. Kenan's abstract of recent Egyptian inquiries) ; and that 
later a cognate tribe of Khatrees of the Cabul country, rougher and 
more warlike, may have come down upon them like the Shepherd 
Kings, and assumed the rule of the Military caste of early Hindu his- 
tory? That warlike conquerors of one age should become astute 
money-dealers of another, is but the ordinary course of history—dews, 
Greeks, Lombards and others are instances in point, and perhaps 
when the New Zealanders rule in England, the English may be known 
as the Khatrees of those parts. 

The Bunneahs, Banians, Banees, or Wanees. 

No race is more important in India than the Banees. What I 
have described the Khatrees to be in a mercantile point of view in 
the Punjab, that the Banees are in the whole of Hindustan and Wes- 
tern India. No village can get on without them. Unlike the Kha- 
trees, they are for the most part confined to their proper mercantile 
business. A few of them are found in Government offices and such 
service, more properly the domain of the Kaists, but these are only 
rare exceptions. They have also under our system acquired by pur- 
chase large rights in the land, and take farms of more, but this is in 
fact with them a mere mercantile operation ; they do not cultivate 
the land, but make the most of the rents payable by the ryots, and 
the ejected proprietors reproachfully term the British Government 
" Bunneah ka Baj" or the shopkeepers' rule. Bunneahs may cultivate 
a few fields, like any one else, or even reduced individuals may earn 
their livelihood as ryots or labourers, but so far as I know, a proper 
Bunneah village is nowhere to be found. 

There is no doubt that in their own way the Banees are a people 
of wonderful energy and enterprise, and it is their energy that gives 
tone and sinew in a commercial, and to a great degree an industrial 
sense, to the greater part of India. Without the Banee to supply the 
sinews of war, little would be done. Their function permeates every 
operation of every village. In all the great cities of Hindustan, they 
are found in a position commanding much respect as Bankers and 



114 The Ethnology of India. 

Merchants, and they are also most daring speculators, as is well known 
in the markets of Bombay and Calcutta. Indeed they often carry the 
rage for speculation to the point of gambling. In respect of physical 
courage, however, the case is quite different. Both their habits and 
their religious ideas make the use of a sword a thing unknown to 
them, and they have no affectation of personal manliness. 

If the Banees are not generally very tall or strong, they are not much 
the contrary, and they are generally very fair. For this latter feature 
their indoor avocations may in part account, but that alone is not, 
I think, sufficient. "When one gets peeps of the faces of their women 
on the occasion of great religious gatherings and the like, they 
seem to be fair beyond almost any other Hindustanee caste. The 
men, though flabby and un-muscular looking, are, I think, to an 
unprejudiced eye often by no means bad looking. They have, how- 
ever, none of the high-Arian sharpness of feature, but rather a sleek 
comely pudding-faced kind of countenance, something like those old 
Egyptian faces which are said to come nearest to the Hindu type. 
They are, I think, generally reputed more grasping than I have de- 
scribed the Khatrees to be ; are more often accused of being hard 
on those in their power, and exercising a severe tyranny of the purse. 
But even in their case I believe that this is a good deal exaggerated, and 
that many of those who abuse them most, can least get on without 
them. Possessed as they are of so much capital and energy, there 
can be no doubt that, from an industrial point of view, the acquisition 
by them, from indolent and unprovident proprietors, of a good deal 
of the land is beneficial, when it becomes their absolute property. 
They, almost alone among superior landholders, perform something of 
the industrial functions of landlords, and they know too well the 
value of ryots, altogether to expend and sell up those in whom they 
have a permanent interest. There is to be set, on the other side, the 
political weakness resulting from the existence of large numbers of 
strong-armed pre-owners still, as they think, natural proprietors, side by 
side with new owners who in a difficulty will not fight. Still, if the 
Bunneahs will not fight, they may perhaps pay others to fight for 
them. It is only when they are set to 'exploiter' the ryots in a 
speculative way, as mere temporary lessees and middlemen under 
the great superior Zemindars, that they are often a great curse. 



The Ethnology of India. 



115 



The great seat of the Bunneahs seems to be in the west, and most of 
them point to a western origin, or rather, speaking from a Hindustanee 
point of view, T should say south-Western, riot to the Punjab, but to 
Rajpootana and the Bombay country. There are a great many sub- 
divisions among them, and my impression is that the different divisions 
do not intermarry as do those of- Jats and Rajpoots. There may 
therefore be ethnological distinctions among them, but I do not 
know that it is so. The most famous of them #re the Marwarees ; 
and that is the name of the country, and not of the sect, intimating 
their habitat in Rajpootana. The red-turbaned gentlemen so conspi- 
cuous in the Calcutta Opium marts and Bombay share-markets are 
generally Marwarees. In Hindustan the highest class of Bunneahs 
are called 1 Aggerwals,' and there are several other sects. The 
Bunneahs professing the Jain religion are called Srawaks, and under 
that name they seem to have been famous in very old times, even in 
parts of Central India which are now comparatively barbarous. In 
Hindustan, Hindu Boras are a sect of money-lenders and traders and, 
I imagine, Bunneahs. I believe the name is the same as that of the 
Mahommedan 6 Borahs' of the Bombay side; but the latter, with 
some peculiar Mahommedan tenets, have probably got some traces of 
transmarine blood, and I shall reserve them for the category of ' Bor- 
derers.' Towards the south of Hindustan I haVe heard of a sect of 
inferior Bunneahs called ' Jasjiwals' who, unlike the race generally, 
are lax Hindus and even permit their widows to remarry. 

So far as I can make out, the proper Banees are not thoroughly and 
completely domiciled in Bengal proper, and to the want of that 
element (or of anything equal to it) I attribute the absence of enter- 
prise and practical achievement, which seems to be remarkable among 
the Bengallee, notwithstanding the great value acquired by the land 
under the permanent settlement, and the accumulation of wealth 
during a hundred years of peace. In Calcutta most of the considerable 
trade and banking business and all the Hindu speculation is done by 
up-country Marwarees and other Bunneahs, not by Bengallees. In the 
Bengal districts, though a good many Banee colonists are settled 
in towns and considerable places, the money-lending and shopkeeping 
business seems to be in great part in the hands of a variety of other 
classes. Bramins do, I believe, a good deal of money-lending, and the 



116 The Ethnology of India. 

goldsmith class are also Bankers in Bengal. Then there is a class 
of SaJwos, whose proper profession is spirit-distilling and vending, 
hilt who have a large share of the general trading* business. The 
common * Modees' or grain-sellers, instead of being almost universally 
Banees as in Hindustan ; are, I understand, of various castes, and 
there are separate spice-sellers, oil-sellers, &c. If there are not so 
many enterprising Banees to make the most of the land, there is at 
any rate this advantage that, I believe, the ryots are now not nearly 
so much rack-rented in Bengal as they are in Behar and other parts 
of Hindustan, where the lands of great landholders are almost in- 
variably fanned to speculators. 

In Groozerat, Forbes describes the Wanees as veiy universal and 
very grasping. But at any rate the traders of the Coast of GFoozerat 
and Cutch are very enterprising. The Banian of those parts is an 
important institution all over the coasts of Arabia and Africa on 
the opposite side of the Ocean. And in Bombay, Premchand and 
other Banees have made their names famous. In the Maratta country, 
the higher trade and banking seems to be done by Marwarees, the 
village business by local Wanees. Farther south, in the Canarese 
country, the classes of trading proclivities called, 'Banijagas' seem to 
be very numerous, but as the name is derived from the Sanscrit 
' Banif a trader, I cannot be quite sure that the northern and 
southern traders are related by blood. # Inquiry is necessary on this 
point. 

Almost all the Banees are strict Hindus, that is, strict in their own 
form of the faith ; for in some sense Jains and such like may be said 
not to be proper Hindus. In Hindustan, though there are a good 
many Jains, the great majority are proper Hindus. They may be 
considered to be in religion very high Hindus, and carry to a great 
extreme respect for animal life. This tenet, I think, connects them 
with the western Jains and others, the foundation of whose faith is 
really the doctrine of metempsychosis and the transmission of 
souls from one creature to another. The Banees are, I think, really 
the most sincerely religious among the Hindus, and much attached 
to their tenets. Among many other Hindu classes, religion is little 
better than form. In the west country, Jain tenets very much prevail 
at the present day among all the Banee classes, and seem to have 



The Ethnology of India. 117 

had a very ancient hold upon them. In the south, the Banijagas are; 
it appears, now chiefly Lingamites and, as such, scarcely Brarainical 
Hindus. But at one time the Jain form quite prevailed among them, 
In fact, in all the west and southwest the Jain religion appears to 
have heen at one time predominant. The Jains seem to assert that 
the Rajpoots were once of their faith, The Pali language and cha- 
racter would seem especially to belong them. 

What then is the origin of the Banees ? That is a very puzzling- 
question. I cannot account for them in any historical way, but the 
speculation which has occurred to my mind is, whether they may not 
originally have been immigrants by sea from the west who brought 
with them the Phallus or Lingam, and those ideas of a continually 
self-reproducing procreative power which took shape in the worship 
of Siva, and eventually gave birth, to Buddhism and to Jainism, and 
which finally, meeting and amalgamating with the Braminical faith, 
produced modern Hinduism. If this be so, we might suppose that 
the Banees had done much to civilise the Central and South of 
India, before the Bramins got so far. But, as I have said, this is 
mere speculation ; much farther inquiry is necessary. 

Among the mercantile classes of the north (as well as of the south) 
should be classed the well-known Banjaras or wandering grain mer- 
chants, men of great energy and usefulness in their day. Though 
they carry on their trade all over the country, they have in some 
places fixed homes. On the borders of Rohilcund, towards the Terai, 
they have in fact considerable settlements, are considerable landed 
proprietors and altogether important people. 

I now come to the Writer classes : — 

The Kaits or Kayasts. 
Important as this caste now is, I am totally at a loss to imagine 
how or why it came into existence. In old Hindu times, with a great 
Bramin class occupying something the position which Bramins now 
hold among the Marattas (by no means confined to sacerdotal auties 
but performing all literate functions), one can see no room for a sepa- 
rate Writer class. If the Rajpoots, coming in as conquerors, wished to 
put aside the Bramins, they would probably have found Khatrees and 
Banees ready to assist them. The Mahommedans, we know, had 



118 



The Ethnology of India. 



always among them a large educated class of their own, so much so 
that in the early days of our rule in Upper India most of our public 
servants were Mahommedans. Yet somehow there has sprung up 
this special Writer class, which among Hindus has not only rivalled the 
Bramins, hut in Hindustan may he said to have almost wholly ousted 
them from secular literate work, and under our Government is rapidly 
ousting the Mahommedans also. 

Very sharp and clever these Kaits certainly are, They are looked 
on by Hindus as rather a low caste, and their appearance is not aris- 
tocratic. Most of them are decidedly dark, generally spare thin men, 
and, I should say, on the average short, with often sharp weasel-like 
features, small and quite low-Arian. They are somewhat lax in 
their ways, given to drink, and on their great annual festival, when 
they worship the pen, it is rather the correct thing than otherwise to 
have a good debauch. 

They have generally the office of Patwaree, or village accountant ; 
and of high office, having always had a good share, they are getting 
more and more a monopoly. They are, in fact, first-rate men of 
business, and without pride ready to adapt themselves to our ways, 
they have become almost indispensable to us. They have acquired 
much landed property, some by honest means, some by clishonest 
means, when very loose practices prevailed in our courts. And of 
course, with dignity and wealth the respect with which they are re- 
garded from day to day increases. What I have said of loose ways, is 
only applicable to the lower and more common members of the sect. It is 
only fair to acknowledge that there are now many high officers and 
worthy proprietors of this class, whose respectability is great and con- 
duct unimpeachable. I never remember to have heard a conjecture 
as to the origin of the Kaits. They are never found in separate 
villages, but are scattered about rather as a separate profession than a 
separate race. There are a good many illiterate men among them 
who earn their bread as they best can ; but most of them are educated. 
I sho%d not say that they anywhere in Hindustan form a very large 
population. One may suppose that when the Bramins got indolent, 
this class grew up as a sort of low-caste clerks to the Bramins, who 
ruled by supplanting their masters. But whence did they get their 
talent ? Some of the Aboriginal races seem to have activity and 
bodily energy, but none of them mental talent. 



The Ethnology of India. 119 

In Bengal the Kaits occupy a higher relative position and are very 
numerous. It is related as a historical fact that they accompanied 
the Bramins into Bengal from the North- West, and indeed it would 
seem as if the Hindustanee colonists in Bengal had been almost ex- 
clusively Bramins and Kaits ; there are scarcely any other castes of 
well authenticated Arian descent, while a large proportion of the 
inhabitants show some aboriginal traces. In Bengal then the Kaits 
seem to rank next or nearly next to the Bramins, and form an aristo- 
cratic class. According to the Jail Returns, they are 7 per cent, of 
the Hindus incarcerated in Bengal, Behar and Orissa, and in the 
general population they are probably in still larger proportion. They 
have extensive proprietary rights in the land, and also, I believe, cul- 
tivate a good deal. Of the ministerial places in the public offices 
they have the larger share. In the educational institutions and 
higher professions of Calcutta, they are, I believe, quite equal to the 
Bramins, all qualities taken together, though some detailed informa- 
tion of the capacities of different classes, as shewn by the educational 
tests, would be very interesting. Among the native pleaders of the 
High Court, most of the ablest men are either Bramins or Kaits ; 
perhaps the ablest of all, at this moment, is a Kait. 

Not knowing where else to put them, I shall here mention a caste 
who are, so far as I know, peculiar to Bengal, the Boidyas or physicians. 
They are not very numerous, are, I believe, often learned and respecta. 
ble men, and rank high among Hindus, but in truth I do not know 
very much about them. It would be interesting to know more. 

The Kaits extend west all through Hindustan, are numerous in 
Malwa and are found in Goozerat. But in this latter Province we 
come upon either another caste of the same kind, or a branch of the 
same bearing a different name, and called— 

PuKBHOOS OR PURVOES 

Who are very conspicuous in that part of India and in the town of 
Bombay, where they do most of the work of clerks. I cannot make 
out whether Kaits and Purbhoos are in the main the same or differ- 
ent. Of^two well informed native gentleman whose opinions have 
been sent me, one seems to think that they are mere sub-divisions of 
an original writer class, another, that they are different. Those whom 
I saw in Bombay seemed to me different in appearance as well as 



120 



The Ethnology of India. 



very different in dress from the Hindu stanee Kaits ; they are, I 
should say, generally fairer and better looking. I should much like 
to know more about them. 

The Artisans. 

For ethnological purposes it would be useless to go through the 
long lists of professional castes, as they cannot, so far I know, be 
distinguished as representing races, but are merely the modern Hindu 
social division into professions. It will nearly suffice to say that in 
Northern India almost every possible profession has its separate caste, 
and that there is no grouping of them together, either into right hand 
and left hand, or into such groups as the Punchalas of the south. 
Nothing of the kind is known ; Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Goldsmiths, 
Bricklayers, Potters, Barbers, Confectioners, Washermen, Spirit-sel- 
lers, and very many others, have all their own separate castes, and 
they eat and marry within those castes. Some are more and some 
less strict Hindus. All are of a low-Arian type, and I am not prepared 
to suggest any ethnological differences, except that they are better 
looking in the Punjab, and less so to the east and south. I doubt, 
whether substantial differences can be found till we get lower, to tribes 
exhibiting more decided aboriginal traces. Most professions bear 
different names in Bengal from those in Hindustan. I do not know 
much of these classes in Goozerat and the Maratta country. 

The Hindustanee Kahars or Palkee-bearers are a considerable class> 
and are strong hard-working men, rather good looking than otherwise. 
They stand well among Hindus, whose water-carriers they are, and 
who will therefore generally drink from their hands. They are also 
fishermen and cultivate a good deal. They have by caste nothing 
whatever to do with cow-keeping, though they may own cows, like 
other people. I believe that they are quite distinct both from 
Bengal Grwallas and from south country Buis or Booes. They are 
found in parts of the Punjab as well as in all Hindustan, but not in 
the west of the Punjab. 

The Inferior and Helot Classes. 
Finally I come to the inferior labouring classes, the Helots and 
out-castes, among whom, if anywhere, the aboriginal blood should 
show itself in a marked way. 



TJie Ethnology of India, 121 

Castes originating in a difference of races$ it may be pretty safely 
assumed that Helot races represent conquered peoples ; but it some- 
times happens that the form remains when all substantial difference 
has disappeared, just as in fossils we have the form although in fact 
the substance is stone like that which surrounds it. In the hills of 
the extreme north, where we have the high-Arian race in its purest 
and most unalloyed state, even the form of a Helot caste is wanting ; 
which is just what we might expect in a country where the Arians 
themselves are the aborigines. There are no out-caste Pariahs. 
In Kashmere a tribe called Wattals are said to be low, but they appear 
to be rather immoral than ethnologically low, a gypsy kind of tribe 
which supplies dancing girls and prostitutes. The women are noto- 
riously among the handsomest in the valley, so they are not at all 
Helots such as I mean. In all these hills, the " Chooras" of the plains 
are altogether wanting. 

In the plains of the Punjab there is a thorough Helot tribe. 
The arrangement of castes is there generally more simple than 
elsewhere, and a single low caste tribe are both the ordinary 
labourers who do all the inferior Coolee work, and at the same time 
the out- caste scavengers of the community. They are in fact all 
considered to be of the lowest sweeper caste,- and are called ' Chooras.' 
As in most democratic communities there has generally been under 
the freemen a Helot class (the Helots of Greece, the Slaves of Rome, 
the Negroes of South and the Irish of North America), so also every 
Jat village has its Helot quarter, where the low caste people, fewer, but 
still considerable in number, reside. They sometimes cultivate on 
their own account, but more generally act as labourers, and do all that 
is done by the Chamars in Hindustan. When a traveller of rank 
arrives at a village in Hindustan, the Chamars are called out to cany 
his baggage ; the Chooras in the Punjab. 

These Punjabee Helots are in fact fine powerful men and tolerably 
good looking. They were well-known under native governments as 
good soldiers, fit to be expended on desperate enterprises. The early 
Sikh reformers, preaching their doctrines of equality, tried to bring 
these men within the pale, but with very partial success, though a 
few were admitted to a respectable position as Sikhs. They were 
only occasionally used as soldiers by chiefs who were hard-pressed. 



122 



The Ethnology of India, 



It has been reserved far us to enlist them in regular regiments, and 
to try to raise them to a good position. Like most low-placed men, 
they look low, when in low case performing low offices ; but that they 
are well grown and powerful, is always clear. I had recently an 
opportunity of looking at them carefully, in a body drawn up on 
Regimental Parade, and looked especially with the view of seeing 
whether I could detect any ethnological peculiarity. I was quite 
satisfied that nothing of the sort is to be found. There may not be 
so large a proportion of good looking men as among the higher castes, 
but as a body they are fine Arians, not very materially inferior to the 
other people of the country. The only physical peculiarity that I 
have noticed among people of this class in the Punjab is, that a large 
proportion of them have only one eye. I apprehend, however, that 
this is not an ethnological peculiarity, but the result of inferior labour 
in a dry and dusty country, as may be seen in Egypt. 

In Scinde also the low caste people are mentioned as large men of 
Punjabee origin and speaking the Jatee language. They are there 
called £ Bale Shahe' or Royal, a term also I believe applied to the 
sweepers in some other parts of India, and which may seem ironical, but 
may possibly be founded on some traditions of their former rule. 

In the Punjab, in addition to the functions which I have mentioned, 
the Chooras are generally the village watchmen ; and it may be observed 
that this office is all over India very generally held by the represen- 
tatives of the oldest races, especially when they possess any fighting 
capacities. It may be supposed that when conquerors came in, they 
would find the headmen of the conquered races best acquainted with 
the localities, and most capable of dealing with those of their brethren 
who had taken to the jungles. I should always be inclined to look 
to the watchmen for ancient ethnological traces. The same races who 
do the watching also often do the thieving, and the Punjab Chooras- 
have done a good deal of theft and robbery and some thuggee. 
What may be the origin of these Punjabee Helots, I must leave tc* 
conjecture. Either they may represent an old aboriginal tribe, whose 
features have been wholly absorbed by infiltration and intermixture, 
and who have left no ethnological traces but a dark tinge in the 
colour of the Punjabees and Affghans of the lower hills, or they may 
be early Arian inhabitants, conquered and enslaved by subsequent 
tribes of BraminSj Khatrees, Rajpoots, and Jats. 



The Ethnology of India, 



123 



At any rate it may generally be said, that the whole population of 
the Punjab, both high and low, is above the average Arian type. 

I have before mentioned that the lower class of cultivators and 
labourers in the Simla hills are called " Kolees." I have not noticed 
among them any marked aboriginal features. 

I have alluded to the Chamars as the labourers of Hindustan, 
but there the functions of the Punjabee Helots are divided ; the 
Chamars are the labourers (besides their own proper profession of 
curing skins), and the out-caste sweepers are an entirely separate and 
lower class. I have never quite made out whether the Chamars are 
considered to be properly Hindus. They are not considered abso- 
lutely offensive to the touch like the unclean out-castes, but their 
name is commonly used to signify a low man, and the greatest insult 
commonly proposed is to beat a man by the hands of Chamars. 

They used to be sworn in a court by a peculiar G-ooroo of their 
own, not by the ordinary name of Grod ; and the sweepers again had 
a different G-ooroo. They really are the modern Sudras of Hindu 
society, and no Hindustanee village could get on without them. 
Like others, they do not appear to advantage when engaged in 
menial offices, but to judge them fairly we should take them clean 
and decently fed and dressed. Most of our Hindustanee Syces are 
of this caste, and any one in Northern India may among them satisfy 
himself of their general style. It seems to me that they are a 
good specimen of the lower grade of the low- Arian type. An ancient 
proverb, quoted by Sir H. Elliott, speaks of a black Bramin and a fair 
Chamar as perversities to be avoided. In these days I think many 
Bramins may be found darker than many Chamars ; but as a rule and 
on an average the Chamars are very decidedly dark, also rather small, 
though active and well knit. In features they are as it were quite 
the opposite of the high- Arian; there is a want of prominence, a 
simplicity as it were of feature ; but still they do not I think show 
anything whatever that can really be called aboriginal, Judged by 
a European standard, and colour and size apart, I think that their 
features are quite as good as the average of Europeans of inferior 
degree. 

The Chamars have never been soldiers, though I believe that we 
have enlisted some of them since the mutiny ; nor have they generally 



124 TJie Ethnology of India. 

held the office of watchman ; that is more frequently held by the unclean 
out-castes. In their own trade as leatherworkers and shoemakers, they 
are clever intelligent men, and they are the same as Syces and some- 
times Coachmen, and as Coolees and hired labourers. In some parts of 
the country, a good deal of the cultivation is in their hands ; but I 
have not heard of their acquiring considerable landed rights or rising 
high in the world, except in Chateesgurh in the Central Provinces, 
where I understand that a colony of Chamars of a reformed faith 
have come to occupy quite an aristocratic position. 

The Chamars generally are apt to be somewhat foul feeders ; the 
lower people of the race habitually eat the dead cattle which they skin. 
They are also a good deal given to drink, when they can afford it. 

The unclean outcastes are generally by no means numerous in 
Hindustan, and are. for the most part confined to their own proper 
functions. There are various sub- divisions of them, and they are 
somewhat indiscriminately known by various names, Bhangees, Meh- 
ters, <fcc. General Briggs, in an ingenious paper, tracing the names of 
provinces to aboriginal tribes, makes the Bhangees the Aborigines o| 
Bengal, but the term is a Hindustanee one, not Bengalee. The term 
* Dome' is somewhat generally applied to these people, or if specially, 
I should say that their particular function is more particularly con- 
nected with dead dogs. It would appear, however, that in the north 
of Hindustan under the Himalayas, the Domes were once a consider- 
able tribe, and in the Kumaon hills, they are still a numerous Helot 
section of the population, being in fact the only inferior class, and 
assuming the functions of artizans as well as those of ordinary labourers. 

They are there described as very black, with curly hair, and alto- 
gether very aboriginal in appearance. I had not myself noticed this, 
but when I knew Kumaon I had not much taken up ethnology. In 
the plains where races have been longer and more mixed, and where, 
as I have said, the lowest caste are few in numbers, they do not, I think, 
exhibit aboriginal features. The fact is that so small a class has been 
recruited by people turned out of other classes, to a degree which has 
quite obliterated their original type. There are now many decidedly 
good-looking people among them, and their women often take up with 
men of other caste. On the average, I should say, that they are now 
decidedly better looking than the quiet decent Chamars. 



The Ethnology of India. 



125 



The result is that, in my view, in Hindustan, after 3,000 or longer 
years of juxta-position, the Arian element has quite prevailed in 
feature over the aboriginal type, and the population, take them all in 
all, are in this particular about as Arian as Europeans, but dark in 
skin and usually smaller. 

It is on the authority of one of the most learned native members of 
the society that I have alluded to the Bagdees, one of the most numer- 
ous non-Mussulman castes of Bengal, as aboriginal, but I have no 
particular description of them ; and though I have observed the 
much greater frequency of aboriginal feature in Bengal, I am not 
sufficiently acquainted with the people to distinguish the special per- 
sonal characteristics of the different inferior classes. The Bagdees 
seem to be cultivators, fishermen, watchmen, and dacoits. On the 
borders of Bengal and Behar. the work of labourers is done by Raj- 
wars, Bhooyas and other aboriginal tribes whom I have noticed. 
The unclean tribes seems to be very various, and to have among 
them a system of castes more particular than that of many Bramins. 
I was lately obliged to dismiss the lowest servant in my establishment, 
an excellent man, because he respectfully but firmly declined to wash 
the cat, as impossible under the rules of his caste. 

In the Prison Returns there is a large entry under the head of 
{ Chandals,' the orthodox low caste name, and others appear under the 
titles of ' Dosads,' ' Harees,' 1 Bhoomallees,' &c. Altogether they 
must be numerous- in Bengal. There is in the list a considerable 
caste of ' Mooshers,' but I cannot find what they are. 

I consider that in Bengal there is still a veiy great field for ethno- 
logical exploration. 

In the plains of Groozerat, the Kolees seem to fill the place of the 
inferior grade in the social scale, as labourers and lower cultivators, 
being there rather members of the ordinary community that a separ- 
ate aboriginal tribe. The unclean outcastes are there called Dhers 
and Olganas. 

In the Maratta country, the ' Mhars' seem to perform the functions 
of 'Begars' (forced bearers of burdens), watchmen, and Helots gener- 
ally, much as the Punjab Helots do among the Jats. There is also a 
low caste of Mhangs. The lowest unclean caste are called ' Dhers* 
there too, but I have also seen it asserted that the ' Mhars' are really the 



128 



Tlie Ethnology of India. 



same as the " Dhers." There is a low caste called " Parwarees" in 
the country below the Ghats. They are found in the Bombay 
army. They, also, seem to be much the same as Mhars. Everything 
seems to point to the reasonable expectation, that if we could but 
trace the matter back far enough, the Groozerattee language would be 
found to be the tongue of the Rajpoots and Koormees with an infu- 
sion derived from the Koolees, and the Maratta that of the Koormees 
and Mallies with a considerable infusion derived from the aboriginal 
Mhars. I have not any good description of the personal appearance 
of the modern Mhars. The Ramooses of the south of the Bombay 
country, seem to have been a bold robber caste, now settled down to 
cultivation. They came apparently from the Telagoo country and 
are not aboriginal to the Maratta districts. 

Besides the settled lower classes, there are also in the north some 
tribes of a character which is apparently more common in the south ; 
people who are a kind of half-tamed huntsmen, watchmen, and thieves, 
doing little regular labour. In all Oude and in some of the neigh- 
bouring districts to the east, there prevails a very peculiar tribe called 
<£ Pasees" who almost monopolise the office of village watchmen and 
who are in their way extremely good active men. They are also 
huntsmen and thieve extensively, also to some degree cultivate and 
labour. On the whole they are superior to most of these tribes. 

Then there are several wandering tribes of Bhoureahs, Sansees, 
Harnees, Koonjars, Dhanuks, and others who go about on pretext of 
trapping vermin and the like, and are great robbers. There are also 
everywhere the gypsy £ Nuts' or 1 Sirkie-bashes' (dwellers under reed- 
mats), but Gypsies are too well-known all over the world to need 
farther specification here. 

The Tribes of the South. 
I have already avowed my ignorance of the Telinga country, and 
without a good knowledge of the races there existing, it would be im- 
possible to trace tbe Aryan tribes in their progress from North to 
South — for I find that a very large proportion of the tribes farther 
South refer to Andria, the Telinga country, as a former stage in their 
southward progress. That country seems in fact to have been a great 
nursery of the southern tribes. Whether " Andria" is another form of 



The Ethnology of India. 127 

u Ariana" I am unable to say. The change, on the southern frontier of 
the Maratta country, to a Canarese population seems to be abrupt, and 
there are few traces of progress of the tribes southwards at that point. 
I am inclined to think that the aborigines held out in the hilly 
country about Sattara and Poonah till a more recent date, and that 
the Arian immigration into the south principally occurred by a route 
farther to the east through the Telinga country, which may possibly 
have been then more extensive than it now is. In this I put aside 
the question of maritime immigration from the west. 

The Telinga country seems, from some source, to have been civilised 
at a very early date, and there appears to be reason to believe that a 
good deal of the country about Warangal and thence eastwards to- 
wards the sea, was in a better state than that into which it has 
since fallen. Much of the ancient Telinga country is said to have 
been taken from the Koles who (in the sense in which I have used the 
word) are not now adjacent — the Gonds intervening— and the country 
was it seems anciently called " Kalinga" which may be another form 
of Coolie-land. The old Telingas seem to have been a maritime 
people, and it was probably they who carried Hindu ideas and perhaps 
some Hindu blood into the Eastern Isles. To this day the Hindus 
of the Eastern Coast are called " Klings" on the opposite side of the 
Bay and in the Islands, a name jpridently derived from Kalinga or 
Kalinga. It is then much to be hoped that we may obtain some 
better knowledge of the Telinga country. 

The Bainjagas, who are very important in the Canarese country, are 
stated to be comparatively humble in the Telinga country and reduced 
to the condition of cultivators and labourers, while the mercantile 
business is in the hands of Comtees or Comatiyas, claiming to be a 
race of pure Arian Vaisyas. The dominant classes are others of Arian 
character, whom I shall presently mention so far as I know them. 
All this would seem to indicate that if the Banees, being according to 
my speculation western immigrants, ever reached the Telinga country 
as Srawaks or Lingamites, or with some earliest forms of that type 
of faith, they have since been reduced and humbled by Northern 
Arians. 

The principal people of whom I find mention in the Telinga 
country are Aylmas or Velmas, said to be " the Rajpoots of the 



128 



The Ethnology of India. 



South," and apparently somewhat like them in character, a dominant 
agricultural tribe of military proclivities. But of the nature of their 
settlements I have no information. Another similar tribe are men- 
tioned as " Ratsawars." 

Another fine tribe called Reddies and found in the Northern 
Canarese country, are also stated to be a Telinga tribe, but of their 
location in the latter country I have no particulars. 

The original Telinga " Andras" seem to have come from the North 
West by the valleys of the Godavery and Wyngunga. The better 
classes of them would seem to be taller, fairer, and better looking than 
most of the southerners. The " common Telinga peasantry" are 
described as people of spare form and dark complexion, with little 
spirit or enterprise, but it is added that they do well in the Madras 
Army. I cannot make out what are the common castes of these people. 

* Naik,' a word known in the native army and elsewhere, is in some 
sense a Telinga, but more properly I believe an aboriginal word. 
There are I think some people called Naiks towards the Eastern 
Ghats, but in most places c Naik' is the title of a headman. The 
Telinga villages, I find it stated, are not compact and fort-looking 
like those of Northern India and the Maratta country, but loose and 
detached, which would seem to be rather an approach to the very 
loose Bengal form. There are a ^pod many Gonds in the North East, 
but the common low tribes are 1 Dhers' and ' Beders' who have their 
Helots' quarter in each village. 

The Telinga palanquin-bearers are widely spread over the south 
and are, I imagine, the Buis of whom I have before made mention. 
The bearers who ply at Madras itself and on the East Coast seem to 
come from G an jam and the Northern Circars, which also furnish many 
of the so-called " Coolee" emigrants to the Mauritius. 

The Canarese country is a remarkable instance of the way in which 
names are transposed in India. The Canarese name is given to 
everything that is not Canarese, and to nothing that is. What is 
called in Bombay the " Southern Maratta country," because the 
Marattas conquered it (the districts of Dharwar and Belgaum and the 
country about Beejapore) is for the most part ethnologically Canarese, 
while the Canara districts on the West Coast (though there is some 
Canarese intermixture and they were once ruled by a Canarese 



The Ethnology of India. 129 

dynasty) are principally inhabited by races alien to the Canarese, 
more akin to the Marattas in the extreme north, and akin to the 
Malay ala people in the south. Abont and under the Ghats, the 
Marattas and Northern Bramins run farther south than they do on 
the plains of the Deccan. 

On the other side of the Peninsula, the Carnatic, wholly Non- 
Oanarese, will always be called the Carnatic, because a dynasty seated 
in the Canarese country once had authority there. 

The real Canarese country is, the southern part of the Bombay 
Presidency, part of the adjoining Nizam's territory, part of Bellary, 
and nearly the whole of Mysore. The Canarese can scarcely be said 
to be Hindus, the Lingamite sect so much prevails, and those Linga- 
mites so entirely ignore Bramins, and so completely make their Lingam 
worship a separate faith. Most of the people are called £ Lingamites' 
or c Sibahtagars,' a name which conceals various castes and races ; for 
it is only a religious designation, and Lingamites are of many castes. 
So far as I can gather, the chief people of the Canarese country 
are the Banijagas who both trade and hold land, and are very 
numerous. 

In the north of this couutry the Beddies, whom I have already men- 
tioned, are described as a fine handsome powerful race, capital culti- 
vators, living together in large villages, and raising much cotton, which 
with other produce they often export as well as grow. They pay their 
revenue well, but are jealous of interference in their village concerns, 
and somewhat litigious. This is an old account, and it seems very 
like what might be said of Jats. I do not know what is the present 
condition of these communities. The widows of the Keddies re- 
marry. They are much superior to their southern Maratta neighbours 
in an industrial and personal point of view. 

Farther south the chief castes of Hindu cultivators are ' Wokuls' or 
' Ooculagas,' said to be called by the Mahommedans ' Koonbees,' and 
whom the Abbe Dubois considers to be in essentials the same as or 
similar to the Tamul Vellallers, though they will not eat or marry 
together. Whatever they may originally have been, they are evidently 
now a different caste from both Koonbees and Vellallers. I have few 
particulars regarding their character, but they seem to be on the 
whole good cultivators. The headmen of Canarese villages are called 



130 Tlie Ethnology of India. 

1 Gaudas,' and under native governments not unfrequently farmed the 
rents. There also seems to have been the village communal system 
in some degree, but in most places not democratic. The Wokuls are 
indifferent soldiers, but serve as Militia. They eat flesh freely and 
are not a strict class. There are, it seems, a number of sub-divisions 
among them. One of the chief are called Gungacara, but whether 
that indicates a northern origin, I can't say. In truth Wokul seems to 
be a very wide word. A considerable proportion of the cultivators, 
in several parts of this country, seem to be settled and reclaimed 
aborigines, sturdy " Beders" and " Malawa" or " hillmen," and there 
are a class allied to the Billiaru and Teermen of the Western Coast. 

The low Helot outcastes are numerous and called " Hollayers" 
Some of this caste seem to be still aboriginal in the Western Ghats, 
they are mentioned as coming down to the Coast nearly or quite 
naked ; but most of them are agricultural labourers and serfs. They 
are said to correspond to the " Dhers" to the north and to the Palli or 
Pallers to the south. " Halaya" means ancient, and the word Hollayer 
perhaps only means " the ancient race." The Gollars, Golavadu or 
Gwallas seem to be few, but the " Dhangars," mentioned as connected 
with Aheers, extend a good way south, and there is a large class of 
the aboriginal shepherds the " Carambers." There are Banjaras called 
also " Lambadi," and I believe also " Warali" or " Katode Warali," but 
I am n ot sure whether these last are not a kind of Gpysies found also 
in the Bombay country. 

The Buis and Bustars are palanquin-bearers, fishermen, ferrymen 
and distillers. 

The old Canarese dynasties and most of the people were at one 
time Jain, but those of that faith are now few, they have returned 
to the worship of Siva and the Lingam, which seems to be their 
ancient faith. This former Jain profession seems to be, however, a 
link of connection with the Banees farther North. 

My impression, in passing through the country, has been that the 
Canarese as a body are fairer and better looking than most of their 
southern neighbours • and as the tribes of a northern character seem 
to prevail among them less than in the Tamil and Telagoo country, it 
may be a question whether their features are influenced by an infusion 
from the west. It seems that the ancient name of the Canarese 



The Ethnology of India. 131 

people and language is " Arabee," but I have been unable to trace 
the origin or derivation of that name. There are some vague tradi- 
tions of former Arab conquest in those parts, but I have not been 
able to connect them with the Canarese name. The language is 
certainly, like the other languages of the South of India, Dravidian 
with Sanscrit super-imposed, but it is an undoubted fact (as we shall 
see when we come to the Western Coast) that a succession of immi- 
grations has occurred there, and one of them seems to a considerable 
extent to have flowed over into the Canarese country. Perhaps still 
more ancient immigrations may have flowed farther, and it might be- 
well worth while minutely to inquire whether any Himyaritic or 
Egyptian importations can be traced in the Canarese tongue. 

In the Tamul country there is little suspicion of Western blood. 
The dominant tribe is of a very decided Northern character, while 
the mass of the lower classes is probably more aboriginal than in 
any other part of India. Consequently most of the Tamul people 
are small and black, and there seem to be among them frequent 
traces of aboriginal features. 

The superior agricultural class, owning and cultivating most of the 
land and in possession of many chief ships, &c. are the " Vellallers," 
a people of whom their own traditions of immigration from the North, 
coupled with their laws and institutions, leave in my mind no doubt 
that they belong to the class of later democratic tribes. Much has 
been done to dissolve the old communal system, but the early descrip- 
tions of Vellaller villages, their apportionment of the lands and mode 
of self-government are exactly such as would describe a Jat village 
of the present day. 

The term Vellaller, like the Ccinarese Wokul, seems to be used to 
express a cultivator of the soil, in fact may be translated zemindar 
or cultivator, just as "Jat" is synonymous with zemindar in the 
Punjab. Whether the Vellallers are directly connected with the 
Velmas of the Telagoo country or with the Bellalla Rajas (who, 
ruling in the Canarese country, carried their arms into the south), I 
am unable to say. They appear to bum their dead, but are Hindus 
of the looser sort in their religious observances, and in their rules 
respecting marriage, &c. Like most of these tribes, they do not 
ordinarily marry more than one wife, unless the first fails to bring 



132 



The Ethnology of India. 



children. They have apparently some Poojarees of their own caste, 
but also to some degree accept Bramins as priests. Some of them 
are educated, or at least some sections of them are quite literate. 

Of this sort I have mentioned the Modelliars,. who are distinctly 
stated to he a hranch of them, but I am not quite sure whether it 
actually is so as regards the Pillays. The Vellallers are the principal 
tribe among the Tamul population in the north of Ceylon. The 
whole race seems to be an industrious good people. 

The cowherds in the Tamul country are it appears called u Idayan/ ? 
and I have alluded to the learned branch of the cowherd race called 
Yadavas. I have not been able to ascertain who are the merchant 
class among the Tamul people, whether Modelliars, Pillays, &c. or 
whether there are any Banijagas. 

The artisans in the south generally seem to be classed in groups,, 
one caste comprising several different handicrafts, the principal of 
which is that of the Panchalas or Pancham-Bandams 7 comprising 
carpenters, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, masons and another which has 
escaped me. 

The principal low caste tribes are the Palli orPallers, and the Pariahs, 
who, though somewhat similar in name, are quite distinct and in fact 
seem to be a good deal opposed to one another one (the Pallers ;) 
forming the lowest grade of what are called the right hand castes, 
the other (the Pariahs) holding the same place among the left hand 
castes. Then there are the robber castes, Kallars and Marawars. I 
have been unable to make out accurately whether these are the same 
or different, whether Marawar is the name of the tribe and Kallar 
only means robber, or whether there are two tribes. However pre- 
datory their disposition, they are not all now robbers, but seem to 
form a considerable portion of the settled inhabitants of the extreme 
south of the Peninsula. In one place I find the Marawars described 
as very aboriginal in feature, and in that respect giving much ground 
for the belief that they are descended from the monkeys who assisted 
in the conquest of Ceylon, while in another place they are said to 
be well made and featured and of a martial disposition. Probably 
they vary very much, accordingly as they are more or less crossed 
with Arians. The Tondimans people are, it appears, mostly Kallars. 
There seems to be a great resemblance between the position of the 



The Ethnology of India. 133 

Ramooses of the southern parts of the Bombay territory, the better 
Beders of the centre of the Peninsula, and the Kallars and Marawars 
of the south. All are of a sturdy, semi-military, predatory character. 
They have generally, in times of trouble, acquired considerable posi- 
tion, and their chiefs have risen to be Polygars. Evidently they are 
superior to the simpler aborigines. The Ramooses are described as 
ill-favoured, but not altogether different in appearance from the ordinary 
population. They have many customs which seem to indicate some 
connection with the northern democratic tribes (see full particulars 
in the Madras Literary Journal), and have the Rajpoot-like traditions 
of the Sacred Horse, &c. It is in such tribes that I think an infusion 
of Yavana blood may well be suspected. 

The Pallers are probably related to the Puliars of the Pulney hills, 
but as settled inhabitants they seem to be decent cultivators of low 
degree. They are very numerous, and seem chiefly to cultivate kitchen 
gardens and small farms. They bury their dead, and have Poojarees 
of their own caste, eat animal food when they can get it, and drink 
freely. Like most non-Arian tribes, they appear to practice polygamy 
when they can afford it. 

The Pariahs are well known, their name having become proverbial. 
They also seem to be numerous, and somewhat lower in degree than 
the Pallers, being under native rule a sort of serfs, and living in serf 
quarters attached to the Vellaller villages. I think that traces of the 
thick lip and something of the prognathous jaws of their ancestors 
may sometimes be traced in those whom we see in service. Yet they 
are certainly very intelligent good servants. It appears that they are 
sometimes educated, and that there have even been Pariah authors. 
Perhaps their masters sometimes found them intelligent, and had them 
educated. 

A strong mark that even yet Hindu ideas and manners have not 
fully taken hold of the extreme south, is this that there, as it appears, 
even some pretty decent and respectable castes bury, instead of burning 
their dead. 

The division into right hand and left hand castes, which prevails all 
over Southern India is very extraordinary and unexplained. They 
are sometimes violent factions, and yet, for anything that we are told, 
there is as little occasion for the feeling as for the feud between the 



134 The Ethnology of India. 

three-year-olds and four-year-olds in Ireland. The Canarese Bani- 
jagas seem to be the chief of the right hand castes, with the lower 
cultivating classes of Hollayers and Kallars under them— while the 
better classes connected with the land appear to be the left hand, with 
the Pariah serfs under them. The Abbe Dubois seems rather to 
reverse this arrangement as respects right and left, but the more recent 
statements are probably the better. The artisans seem to be divided. 
I think that the subject deserves farther inquiry. Possibly these 
factions may represent two different streams of civilisation and domi- 
nation meeting in the south. 

The old dominant tribe of the South Western Coast are the Nairs, 
who seem long to have dominated that country from the Western G-hats. 
These Nairs are the chief people of Malabar and Travancore, and the 
Bunts, who occupy a similar position in Canara, are cognate to them, 
as are the Coorgs above them. They are chiefly notorious for the 
singular custom of polyandry, and the consequent order of succession 
through females. Polyandry is not now universally practised (though 
not uncommon), but the rule of succession through females is at this 
day the actual unvarying law of this people. They are a good-sized 
well-featured race, but rather dark, especially compared to the other 
inhabitants of this Coast. They are not only soldiers and landholders, 
but are also often educated, and are then considered to be remarkably 
good accountants. I have mentioned the prevalence of Bramins in 
this part of India. They seem to get on very well with the Nairs, and 
share the land with them. Indeed, it is said, that the Nair women 
are not always satisfied with their own polyandrical arrangements, 
and that a good deal of Bramin blood has been infused into the Nail- 
aristocracy by the channel of female descent. 

There seem to be a considerable number of the Agrestic slaves of 
Malabar, the black aboriginal Chermars, to whom, as well as to the 
Nagadie's (if possible still lower), I have already alluded. The re- 
maining important sections of the population of this part of India 
I shall soon come to, but with regard to the effect of immigration 
upon them, I shall class them under the head of Borderers. 

The system of village communities does not prevail on this Western 
Coast. The land is there considered to be the private property, in full 
right, of private landholders who hold separately, more after a modern 



The Ethnology of India. 135 

European fashion. It is also a general observation that in all hilly and 
broken countries (such as are the Western Grhats and their spurs on 
either side) village communities are neither required, nor can be easily 
formed. In the midst of great plain countries, the cultivation of a 
community is concentrated within fixed and not distant limits, and 
concentration of habitation is required for defence. In hilly countries, 
the occasional spaces fit for cultivation are occupied by petty scattered 
hamlets and individual habitations. 

I have never heard any attempt to account for the singular poly- 
andry of the Nairs. My impression, however, is that polyandry is 
only a step in advance of the custom which is well-known as existing 
both among the old Jews and among almost all those modern Hindu 
tribes which permit remarriage, as well as among some other races, 
viz., that the wife of one brother passes on his decease to the next 
brother. Among the Jats, the men strenuously assert this right, and 
the women generally as strenuously deny it ; but as we do not enforce 
it, it has never been decided which is in the right. At any rate it is 
always asserted. Now when the woman is recognised to be family 
property, and when moreover the Hindu and older than Hindu doctrine 
of joint family property is brought to bear on the matter, it seems 
to require but a little pressure and a little philosophy to convert a 
successive holding into a joint contemporaneous holding ; especially 
when childless elder brothers are getting old, and younger brothers 
are rising up who may supply the want. In an early state of society, 
we know that in war the women are always carried off as the prize 
of the victors ; consequently, as the fortune of war varies, tribes must 
often be left with a deficiency of women to an inconvenient degree, 
which the polyandrical arrangement among brothers (already pos- 
sessed of contingent remainders in the same woman) obviates. This 
result seems to have followed among some of the Scythian tribes, and 
there is a tendency to the same thing among some of the Arian tribes 
of the Himalayas. In this last case, the cause assigned often is, that 
the women being good-looking and much prized in the plains, fathers 
have great temptations to make advantageous matches for their 
daughters (to sell them, rude people say), and women become scarce 
in the hills. 

We may suppose that the Nairs were perhaps a tribe who had 



136 The Ethnology of India. 

pushed far ahead of their base of operations, possibly their baggage 
and most of their women had been cut off, and being left with a scant 
supply of wives in their new settlements, they may have adopted the 
present arrangement. Yet it seems one which has little to recom- 
mend it to permanence. The extraordinary thing then is, that it 
appears that in some parts of the Malabar Coast, parts of other tribes 
have actually to some degree borrowed the practice from the Nairs. 
There can be nothing about the country unfavourable to the propaga- 
tion of women. Any cause tending to female infanticide would also 
tend to polyandry, but this has not been assigned as the reason in 
Malabar. 

In the Canara districts, the Jains are still numerous, many of the 
Bants, &c. being of this sect, and it appears that this country (known 
also as the Tulu or Tulava country) was formerly a great stronghold 
of the Jains and ruled by Jain Rajas. 

THE BORDERERS. 

The Teermen oe Islanders of the South West Coast. 

On the Malabar Coast there is a numerous class called- Teers or 
Teermen. They are generally a fair good-looking race, but considered 
to be of very low caste. Caste ideas are there carried to an extreme 
unknown in Hindustan, where, with the exception of the unclean 
scavenger caste, mere contiguity and general intercourse is not sup- 
posed to affect caste, and all classes mix freely together. In Malabar 
and Travancore, the Nairs do not pretend to be more than Soodras, 
but they make out the Teers and Shanars (who are much the same) to 
be so infinitely below them, that they must get out of the way when 
a Nair calls out to announce his approach in the public road. And 
yet the Teers are by no means a low and degraded caste ; on the 
contrary they are, as I said, a good-looking, and they are also a thriving 
prosperous people, who are largely educated in the Government 
schools, obtain much public and private service, are acquiring land, 
and are in every way well-to-do. 

They have (it seemed to me in Malabar) not the least aboriginal 
trace, but are fairer and in appearance more refined looking than the 
Nairs. The Shanar women of this class are those about whose 
liberty to cover themselves a disturbance was made in the Travancore 



The Ethnology of India. 



137 



country by the classes who considered them too low for this decent 
practice. All the Teer and Shanar people are said to be by caste 
or profession palm-growers or toddy-drawers, in allusion to the prin- 
cipal product of their native regions. 1 Teer' it seems means 1 Island' 
and the Teermen are generally understood to be Islanders or immi- 
grants by sea. Their relationship to the Maldivians is spoken of, 
but that is a petty group, and the only people to whom it is clear 
that they are related are the Singhalese. I am not acquainted with 
Singhalese ethnology, but the Singhalese whom I have seen seemed, 
I think, to be a fine-featured straight-haired people with no dash of 
the Indian Aborigines and like the Teers, only somewhat darker and 
somewhat different in dress, &c. Caldwell speaks of the Teers as 
being a reflex of the previous Hindoo emigration to Ceylon. Yet if 
all the accounts be correct, it is difficult to suppose all the congeners 
of the Teers to have come from Ceylon. Not only are the Teers 
very numerous in Malabar, where they form a great proportion of the 
population, but all the Shanars farther south are stated to be of the 
same race, as are the Billiaru (said to mean 1 Bow men'), the lower 
race in Canara, and a considerable number of people related to the 
latter who are found in Mysore, and there called Halaya Paika or old 
Paiks. Some of these people are, however, I believe much darker and 
less good looking than the proper Teers. The latter are also said to 
have contributed to form the Moplahs. If so large a population has 
immigrated, it must have been a long time ago. I said I think that 
there can be little doubt of their relationship to the Singhalese. It 
would seem from the published accounts, that the Singhalese are not 
Dravidian in language and manners, but derive the main portions of 
their language and religion, and perhaps of their civilisation, from 
Bengal and Magadha. That they received their present Buddhism 
from Magadha, and much of their language from a Sanscritic source, 
there can, I believe, be no doubt. But here also Western elements 
may be mixed with the other, and very careful inquiry is necessary. 

It would be curious if it proved that, as it were in the three 
extremities of India, in Cashmere in the north protected by moun- 
tains, Bengal in the east protected by the marshes of the Ganges 
and Berhampootra, and parts of Ceylon and Malabar on the south 
protected by distance and water, there remain three remnants of the 



138 



The Ethnology of India. 



older and softer Indian civilisation, not swept over by the democratic 
tribes of the north-west, and still retaining considerable points of 
resemblance among themselves. 

The Southern Christians. 

I have not been able to find any precise ethnological description of 
the Christians of the Sonthern Coast, but so far as I can learn, they 
are principally Shanars. 

The Moplahs. 

I believe that the notoriety of certain events has led most people 
at a distance to suppose the Moplahs to be a small sect of religious 
fanatics on the "West Coast. Nothing can be a greater mistake. 
They are a large, most energetic, and most prosperous people ; in some 
industrial respects perhaps the best population to be found anywhere 
in India. In point of numbers alone they are very considerable. In 
a large portion of the Malabar country, they form full half the popu- 
lation, and in the Malabar district their total number by census is 
not far short of half a million. They are also numerous in Canara 
and very numerous in Travancore. The Lubbays of the Tinnevelly 
Coasts seem to be as nearly as possible the same race. It is evident 
then that they are numerous enough to form a small kingdom, and 
in point of wealth and individual comfort and prosperity they 
certainly exceed any similar number of any other race in India. I 
confidently assert that no one can see the comfortable, neat, superior 
two-storied houses and homesteads of the Moplahs of the West 
Coast, without feeling that he has come upon a people non-Indian in 
their vigour, progressiveness, and whole style. One hardly feels oneself 
in India. There is no doubt that the Moplahs have a very large 
share of Arab blood. I have not been able to ascertain particulars 
of the date of their immigration, nor of the parts of Arabia from 
which, and the tribes from among whom they come, which latter 
points would be important now that Mr. Palgrave has led us to 
distinguish among Arab and quasi- Arabs ; but the general native 
belief, which is probably correct, is that the Moplahs are a cross 
between Arabs and Teermen. The result is a fine, stout, manly, good- 
looking race. Their religion and much of their energy and manners 



TJie Ethnology of India. 



133 



are Arab, but at all events they are Arabs of an industrious money- 
getting stamp. They have most of the trade of the Coast in their 
hands, and they are rapidly acquiring a larger and larger share in 
the land, not only inferior rights by settlement and lease, but also 
superior rights by purchase and mortgage. As respects their religious 
fanaticism, I believe it will generally be found that fanaticism is 
most frequently used as an instrument of political warfare, and that 
in the most sincere it is but a symptom of political discontent. In 
spite of Mr. Palgrave, I think that when Arabs beyond their own 
country are Mahommedans, they are pretty zealous, especially when 
they find themselves confronted with unbelievers. Probably the 
Moplahs are as good Mahommedans as are usually found, and in time 
of political discontent there is no lack of religious leaders from 
Arabia ; but in fact I understand that it is perfectly clear to those 
acquainted with the matter that the Moplah outrages of which we 
have heard so much, are really political, or perhaps I should rather 
say social, outbursts of a few individuals among an energetic people, 
directed not against the British Government or Christian rule, but 
against Hindu landlords. The land question is at the bottom of it 
all. It is the old story of an inferior race with the law in their 
favour, and a more energetic race who wish to progress somewhat more 
rapidly than a conservative law allows. The more serious attacks 
on European officers have been made on them, not because they are 
Christians, but because they have not taken a view sufficiently 
favourable to the Moplahs in questions between them and the Hindu 
landlords. 

They are a sturdy and independent as well as an intelligent and 
educated race, and though they make, I believe, capital public servants 
when they enter our service, they do not much seek it, and circum- 
stances seem to have rendered them somewhat apart and over-indepen- 
dent. There is perhaps less intercourse and friendly feeling than is 
desirable between the governors and the governed. Still the Moplahs 
are an ethnological fact, and a strong and rapidly progressing fact ; 
we can't get rid of them, and we must try to guide their energy in 
the right direction. After all, their outbreaks have been those of 
a very few individuals, and have only been serious on account of their 
extreme pluck and energy, with which only European soldiers can cope, 



140 



The Ethnology of India, 



Mixed and immigrant races on the Bombay Coast. 

The Mahonmiedan Borahs, with equal mercantile energy, are a 
pleasant contrast to the Moplahs in their quiet demeanour and ready 
acceptance of British rule. They seem to be of the sect of Ismaleahs or 
Assassins, who are supposed to hold murder among their tenets ; but 
the Borahs are very mild, peaceable, shop-keeping assassins indeed. 
I believe that the name is that of the Hindu mercantile Borahs, but 
there is an evident infusion of immigrant blood, which probably came 
in together with their religion. It is probable that they are a cross 
between immigrants from the Persian Gulf and Hindu Borahs. 
Whether called Gulf- Arabs or Persians, the population of the coun- 
tries at the Northern end of the Gulf is evidently more Persian than 
Arab, and there also seems to be a chief seat of the Ismaleah sect. 
The Borahs seem to some extent to cultivate and hold land, but their 
proper avocation is trade ; and a most useful and prosperous race they 
are. They are very numerous in Bombay, and thence west and north- 
west ; they have a large proportion of the trade of "Western India, and 
form an important class in all the large towns up to about the centre 
of India. Boorhanpore is, I believe, the " city of the Borahs" to 
which they attach peculiar importance, and where they desire to lay 
their bones ; and they are found in Ellichpore, Nagpore, Indore, 
Nusseerabad, and many other places in those directions. They are 
generally a fair good looking people, and deal largely in all sorts of 
Europe and foreign goods. 

The Parsees are so well-known that I need say little of them. 
They must form altogether a considerable population in the west of 
India, comprising many humble members in service, &c. as well as 
merchants. They are, I think, in feature, in the main, of a high-Arian 
type, somewhat intermixed perhaps after a very long residence in 
India, and somewhat blunted and thickened as compared to the sharper 
and more chiselled northern faces ; but still there is generally the 
prominence of feature which we might expect from an extraction 
originally Persian. 

I believe that there are some black Jews on the Western Coast, 
but the comparatively recent Jew settlers somewhat numerous about 
Bombay, and who form a considerable community in Calcutta, are one 



The Ethnology of India, 



141 



of the most striking and, I think I may say, handsome of all races. 
A remarkably showy oriental dress, setting off a complexion almost 
European, no doubt goes for something ; but still the people themselves 
are very remarkable. Far from the dingy old-clo' looking complexion 
which we are apt to associate with European Jews, their complexion 
is the most bright and transparent looking to be seen anywhere, and 
the blood seems quite to over-master the faint tinge of olive in their 
skins. The features are large and prominent, almost to excess, and 
their forms tall and goodly. I believe that these people are all 
connected with the Persian Gulf, and that they derive their blood 
from thence. After Mr. Palgrave's description of the true Arab 
physique, one may well believe that their traits are really rather 
Persian than Semitic. 

The Scindees. 

I have already noticed the people of Upper Scinde. The people 
and language properly called ' Scindee' are almost confined to the 
lower part of the Province, and I have reserved them to be classed 
among the Borderers, because they are not altogether an extension of 
any of the Indian Arians of whom I have treated, but a composite 
race largely influenced by other elements. The Arabs seem to have 
conquered Scinde some centuries before India at large was overrun 
by Mahomedans of other races ; and at this day there is both much 
Arabic in the Scindee language, and probably a good deal of Arab 
blood in the Scindee people. There is also probably some Persian, some 
Hindu, and perhaps some aboriginal Koolee blood. In short both 
the people and the language are altogether composite. The amal- 
gamation does not seem to have had the good industrial result shown 
in the Moplahs and Borahs. The Scindees are described as well 
grown and rolust, but dark in skin, debased in morals, and idle. The 
Delta and the country of the Lower Indus seem to be very ill and 
insufficiently cultivated ; and the people are given to hunting, fishing, 
and pastoral pursuits quite as much as to cultivation. 

The Belochees. 

I have not alluded to the Belochees as an element in making up the 
Scindees, because it would seem as if the Belochees themselves were a 



142 



Hie Ethnology of India. 



composite people, made up of the blood of Persians and Arabs, and 
I don't know what besides. However, if that is so, it is not now a 
mere mixture, but a chemical union of the elements thrown together, 
and the Belochees, if their language is composite, are still now a 
people of distinct traits and nationality. They acquired, as is well- 
known, at a comparatively recent time the dominion of Scinde, and 
they are pretty well-known as settlers in the North- West of India, say 
to about as far as Dehli ; but they have there none of the dignity and 
station of the Pathan settlers. I dare say there are decent cultivators 
among them ; but they are more often camel-drivers and such like, and 
they have not a good name, being generally supposed to have consider- 
able robber and cut-throat proclivities. I don't think they have any 
villages of their own ; they are generally only scattered about in the 
capacities which I have mentioned. They are fine powerful men, 
but rather dark. Those whom I have seen of the families of the 
Ameers of Scinde are fair and good looking, but even in Belochistan 
I believe it may be said of the Belochees generally, that they are a 
good deal darker than the Pathans. They are similarly arranged in 
tribes, and are similarly predatory upon the border ; but I understand 
that they are a good deal less democratic in their constitution, and 
more amenable to the authority of their chiefs than the Pathans. 
This too may make them preferable as mercenary soldiers. It is 
somewhat curious that, while in the west of India Arabs are en- 
tertained in that capacity, on the Coasts of Arabia itself and of 
Africa, Belochees are the people so employed by the chiefs. They are 
in fact the Swiss of those parts. 

I have alluded before to the Brahooes, and as I believe that they 
are not known as residents within Indian limits, I need not recur to 
them. 

The Afghans or Pathans. 

I have included the Indian Pathans among modern Indian tribes, 
and have sometimes called the Pathans proper " Afghans," to distin- 
guish them, and in deference to English habit. But among the people 
themselves, the name Afghan is hardly known. 

Physically these people are among the very finest on the earth. 
And they have a pleasant, frank, simple, unaffected way, that makes 



The Ethnology of India. 



143 



a man at once feel, when lie gets among them, that he is out of India, 
A European will really more amalgamate with a Pathan in a week than 
with a thorough Indian in seven years. 

The Pathans are decidedly high-Arian in feature ; and if their 
features are less universally very high and chiselled than those seen in 
the northern hills, they have on the other hand more of a broad, robust? 
ruddly, manly look, and the people are in fact a hardier and bolder 
people. About Cabul they are fair, but some of the tribes in the 
lower and hotter hills and valleys adjoining India have somewhat 
dark skins. Rough, simple, and frank as these people generally look, 
they are in fact by no means simple. I believe that some of the 
more isolated tribes, Wazeerees, (fee, have more simple virtue, but the 
great majority of the Afghans, partly probably by nature and more 
in consequence of long dealing with many nations (holding as they 
do the portals of India), have the reputation of being a very astute, 
intrigruing, ambitious, avaricious, and crafty people, Great allowance 
must, however, he made for their situation and temptations. One 
cannot but feel that so energetic and fine a race, living in a country 
so poor, but the highway of so many nations, must of necessity learn 
to live a good deal on their neighbours. I am told by officers on the 
frontier, that in point of bold unblushing lying, a Hindu is a mere 
child to a Pathan. I suppose this habit comes from long living by 
their wits. The character of faithfulness, however, is in the main 
injurious to the Pathans. They are distrusted as mercenaries. It is 
felt that if they are always ready to do any work when it is made 
worth their while, they are also people of a calculating disposition, 
who are very likely to turn, when the advantages preponderate in 
favour of another policy ; as the Persians found to their cost in the 
last century, when they too much availed themselves of the services 
of the Afghans. At present they are very popular in our native 
army, and certainly make capital soldiers. But they are fickle and 
uncertain, and seldom serve long without a break. A man gets a 
message to say that it is absolutely necessary that he should come 
home and murder his uncle, and off he goes with or without leave. 
They come back, however. It is a thing to be understood that the 
Ameer of Cabul pretends to no authority whatever over the Eastern 
Afghan tribes. They are avowedly politically quite independent, 



144 The Ethnology of India. 

while in one sense, without our attempting to interfere in their internal 
affairs (that they will not permit for an instant), they are becoming 
more and more our military retainers. A very large number of them 
pass though our service, and a steady income is derived from it. 

The Pathans south and south-west of Peshawar are pure and 
rough, but the Eusofzies and tribes to the north seem to differ con- 
siderably in character. In fact, as I have before mentioned, the Pathans 
are comparatively recent conquerors and colonists of the northern hills 
and valleys. They have there mixed much with people of an Indian 
type, pre-IIindu it may be, but probably the ancestors of Hindus. 
These people have not the Hindu caste which, for the most part, pre- 
vents amalgamation on the part of the Khatrees, and I think there 
can be little doubt that their blood has much influenced the 
character of the Eusofzye clans. The purer Afghans are extremely 
illiterate, and the very opposite of bigots in matters of religion. 
The Eusofzies are perhaps all the fairer and handsomer for the inter- 
mixture of blood ; they are also more civilised in their manners and 
much more literary. And they have imbibed very much of that 
veneration, that religious capacity, which distinguishes the oldest 
Indian branch of Arians. Mahomedans as they are, they really 
seem to have some religious zeal, and they are very much priest- 
ridden. In fact the Akhoond of Swat and other priests have, to 
some extent, induced the tribes to submit to a certain and partial 
religious government, if it can be called by that name. The priests 
seem to have considerable grants of land, and at any rate succeed in 
levying a regular tithe from the landholders and cultivators, whose 
differences they settle as far as they can. It is among these people 
that discontented Mahomedan immigrants from Hindustan have 
found some sort of shelter. It should be understood that intermix- 
ture has not destroyed the military qualities of the Eusofzies 
themselves. With an inferior population at home to cultivate their 
fields, they are amongst the most notable Pathan soldiers who have 
pushed their fortunes in India. 

The proper Afghan constitution is democratic in the extreme, so 
much so that any sort of government on a large scale is almost im- 
possible, and the Ameer's authority is confined to a few open valleys 
(for the most part cultivated by inferior races) and to a very uncertain 



The Ethnology of India. 



U5 



feudal chiefship over the western clans. They have their regular 
system of democratic representation and self-government by the 
assemblies of Jeergahs and Oolooses ; but like most rude people so 
situated, no man's nationality goes beyond his own clan (just as in 
civilised Greece, it did not go beyond his own city), and within the 
clan order is very insufficiently maintained. Afghan individuality in 
very irrepressible. 

A considerable population of proper Pathans are now our subjects 
in the districts of Peshawar and Kohat, and it would be very 
interesting to examine critically, how far their constitution is really 
different from that of the Jats and other democratic Indian tribes. 
It is generally said that as a people they are very different, and non= 
Indians must be very different from Indians. The language too 
shows that, Arian though they be, the Pathans are a branch separated 
'by a wide interval. But still I have not been able to discover by 
cursory inquiry that their constitution is other than that of the more 
democratic Indo-<xermans. I rather incline to think that they are 
probably of the same stock as the -Jats and other tribes, but of a common 
ancestry, loag anterior to the entrance of the latter into India. It 
•may be that while some tribes poured into India, others have been 
gradually working their way though the hills, dispossessing the 
Khatrees and Khasas and more aboriginal Caucasians who held what 
is now modern Afghanistan. 

The Aboriginal Asians of the Indian Caucasus. 
I have lately called attention to our ignorance of these most 
interesting people, probably the remains of the pre-Hindu ancestors 
of the earliest Hindus. Of the Kaffirs of the most inaccessible 
portions of the range, between the Kashgar river and Bameean, we 
have heard a great deal, but learned almost nothing. They are 
thought to be related to Europeans, because they sit on chairs and 
drink wine copiously. They must be a sturdy race, to have maintained 
their independence so long. All the other tribes seem to be more or 
less Mahomedans. "There are the w Neemchahs" or half breeds on 
the southern slope of the Caucasus, between the Afghans and the 
higher peaks, speaking a language with a strong affinity to the Indian 
tongues, and which also seems to present some curious affinities to 



146 



TJie Ethnology of India. 



the Latin. In the lower country near the debouchure of the Kashgar 
river, the people speak a mixed language called " Laghmanee." In 
the upper valley of that river, the name Kashgar seems to mark the 
trace of early Khasas. 

The ancient language of Swat seems to have disappeared, and the 
country is now Pathan, with a subject race of aboriginal blood, that 
is pure Arian aborigines. But farther north, in the valleys of the 
Ghilghit river, running into the Indus from the West, we have an 
Arian people speaking a language of their own, which is cognate to the 
tongue of the tribes east of the Indus in and about the country called 
" Chilas." Some of these latter are independent and scarcely known, but 
most of this country, and also Ghilgit, is now subject to the Maharajah 
of Cashmere. The " Bards" seem to be among these tribes. 

It may be asserted of all these Caucasian tribes (excepting the 
Kaffirs of whom we know so little) that, while they are physically 
as handsome and fine as possible, they are not so democratic and 
sturdy in independence as the Afghans. We know very well what 
an undertaking it is to subdue, still more to rule, an Afghan tribe in 
their own country. But the Afghans have certainly subdued many 
of these Caucasians. The Maharajah of Cashmere has conquered 
and governs many more. Those in contact with our own frontier 
are quiet and not troublesome. And in Kashgar it is understood that 
the people submit to their rulers, in a way which Afghans will never 
suffer. Altogether it may be assumed that this race is less indepen- 
dent (though it may be more intellectual) than the democratic races ; 
more amenable to Rajas and Priests, and altogether just such a people 
as we might expect to give birth to Khasas and early Braminical 
Hindus. Living in countries most favourable to the Vine they seem 
to be generally given to the use of wine. Whether the use of chairs 
extends beyond Kaffiristan I cannot say. We have in fact everything 
to learn about these people and their languages. 

The Northern Borderers or mixed Tartar or Thibetan blood. 

The Mongolians and Arians seem to cross well. Most of the tribes 
falling undor this heading are physically vigorous and industriously 
energetic. 



The Ethnology of India. 147 

I have before alluded to the Hazarahs beyond Cabul and Grhuznee, 
Who come down to Peshawar and the Punjab for labour. This name 
"Hazarah" has no connection with that of the Cis-Indus district 
so called from a town of that name. These Hazarahs are Persian in 
speech, Sheeah in religion, and decidedly Mongol in feature, charac- 
teristics, which would seem to tally with the story of their having 
been a body of slaves in the train of some Mahomedan conqueror ; 
but whether this is really historical, I cannot say. They are very 
independent and industrious, decidedly a good race. 

The people of Grhilgit are the farthest Arians of the country whence 
the Indus flows. To the north the people are of Turkish race, and in 
the valley of the Indus above the junction with the G-hilgit river are 
the Bultees of Iskardo, &c. The language of the Bultees is decidedly 
Thibetan, and their features show a large proportion of the blood of that 
race. Some of it may be, as they say, that of Alexander, for anything I 
know to the contrary ; but we should hardly have heard of it, if they 
had not been Mahomedans. They are Sheeahs, as are several tribes in 
those higher countries, a circumstance which has not been explained. 
They seem to be a good, stout, quiet race. The Maharajah of 
Cashmere (who rules the country) has enlisted many of them into 
his service, apparently with advantage. 

In the upper valleys of the S title j, in Spiti, Kanawer, &c. there are 
mixed races exhibiting much Thibetan blood, and apparently more 
Buddhist than Hindu in religion. A very Thibetan-looking colony 
used to be settled at Mahasoo just beyond Simla, and people of that 
race did much of the heavier work, carrying wood on their backs. 
They are powerful, ruddy-looking people, and as entirely unlike 
Indians as anything one can imagine. The women especially are 
remarkably fine females in an industrial sense • but in other respects, 
whatever they may be from a Turanian point of view, they are not 
likely to be dangerous to the Arian visitors to the sanatarium. 

From this point for many hundred miles to the east, all the passes, 
the very crests and centres of the passes through the snowy range, are 
occupied by a peculiar tribe who almost monopolise the trade across, 
principally carried on upon the backs of sheep. They also cultivate 
some land. They are known as the " Bhooteas," but that is so wide 
a word (in fact identical with Thibetan) that it is little guide to us. 



248 



The Ethnology of India. 



I believe that there are some very curious tribes in valleys near 
and 'immediately beyond the snows, but I have not the means of 
specifying them. 

As resjDects the Himalayas generally, the following may, I think, b& 
said. From Cashmere eastwards, all the easily accessible portions of 
the Himalayas are occupied by perfectly Arian Hindus, as far as the 
eastern border of Kumaon and the Kalee river, separating that Pro- 
vince from the Nepal- dominions ; the Thibetans- being here confined to- 
the valleys about and beyond the snow. Throughout the whole 
length of Nepal again people of Thibetan blood have partially flooded 
over into the Nepal country, have there met and. intermixed with 
other races, and have formed mixed tribes who appear to be generally 
(the proper Goorkhas perhaps excepted) more Thibetan than Indian 
in physiognomy and speech, but are or affect to be more Indian than 
Thibetan in religion and manners,, doubtless under the influence of 
the dominant " Khas." East of Nepal, in Sikkkn and Bhootan,- 
Thibetans are altogether dominant, and the Hindu element almost 
disappears-. The soldiers* whom we erroneously call £ real Goorkhas* 
are mostly of the Gurang and Magar tribes of western Nepal. Their 
features are ultra-Mongolian, but they are small, whereas the Thibe- 
tans are generally large. Of their pluck and energy there can be no* 
doubt. At the Simla Government School, the children from a 
Goorkha Regiment were found at least to equal,- in fact rather to beat 
the Hindus. They themselves affect to be Hindus, and stoutly 
deny being Buddhists r though they aie free from most disagreeable- 
Hindu prejudices. The Newars^ the cultivating peasantry of the 
valley of Nepal, are stated to ; have Thibetan looking features, with a 
fair and ruddly complexion. Both their language and that of the- 
Gurangs and Magars seem to be in the main Thibetan,, at least in 
the fundamental numerals, pronouns, &g. Still more is it so as 
regards the languages of the tribes farther east r Kerantis, Murmis r 
and others, of whom I know little. 

The Lepchas of Sikfeim and Lopas- of Bhoot&n are unmitigated- 
Buddhist Thibetans. There seem to be several tribes of " Rong,' r 
" Khampas" or Kambas,. and Limboos, who come from different parts 
of Thibet, and there are some differences of language. The Lepcha 
tribes are described as a dirty, good-natured people, in character said* 



The Ethnology of India. 149 

to be something like the Mongols from beyond the Chinese wall, as 
described in recent accounts. The Lopas, &c. of Bhootan seem to 
be more difficult to deal with. Farther east are, I believe, still wilder 
Thibetan tribes. All these people are idle, but very powerful ; and 
when they do work, they carry enormous loads, both men and women. 
They are said to carry up to Darjeeling as much as 250 lbs. in a 
single load. And at some of the Hill Stations on the Eastern 
Frontiers of Bengal, I understand it is the fashion that a European 
visitor is carried up the hill in a basket on the back of an old woman. 

The people of the Eastern Frontier. 

The people of the very lowest hills of Bhootan and of all the low 
country at their foot are of another race, the Meches or Mechis (before 
alluded to in marking the boundaries of the Indian Aborigines), who 
are apparently the same as Hodgson's " Bodo." They are, it appears^ 
now quite ascertained by their language to be Indo-Chinese of the 
Lohitic or Burmese branch of the Turanian family, a connexion 
which their physiognomy confirms. They seem to be a good- sized, 
fair, but rather yellow-looking people. They are described as rudo 
in their agriculture (using the hoe, not the plough), and erratic in 
their habits, but good-natured and tolerably industrious. They pro- 
fess a kind of debased Hinduism, but are very omnivorous in their 
habits. The Dimals are a smaller but somewhat similar tribe r 
speaking a language which in some degree differs. 

Passing over the Garrow and Cossya Hills to Cachar, the Cachar 
people again are of the same race as the Mechis. So, it would appear 
(so far as I can gather), are the Nagas r Abors, and some other tribes 
in the hills bordering on Assam. There are aboriginal tribes of 
Tipperah and Munneepore, but of their ethnology I am not informed. 
In the Cossya hills are an isolated body of people of the Taic or 
Siamese race. Of this race were the Ahoms who once ruled Assam, 
as are, it appears, the Khamtis and some other tribes of the more 
distant hills of that Province ; also the Shan tribes of the Burmese 
interior. The Karens are, I rather think, Lohitic. It is evident, 
however, that on this Eastern Frontier I have got into a vast 
ethnological region, with which I have no personal acquaintance, and 
with which I cannot deal farther than to point out the vast field fotf 



150 The Ethnology of India. 

inquiry, and to suggest how great a service any one would render, who 
would briefly classify and describe these tribes. There are endless 
distinct tribes, even the names of which I do not attempt to give. 

POSTSCRIPT. 



When this paper had nearly passed through the Press, Colonel 
Barton's paper on the Kols (to the want of which I have alluded) was 
received in the office of the Society, and it will be printed along 
with this. I have only had an opportunity of hastily glancing at it, 
but have seen enough to be sure that it will admirably fill up just 
what was wanting in regard to our knowledge of the aboriginal 
tribes, and will be read with extreme interest. The two papers, thus 
published together, having been written without concert, may be found 
to express or assume different opinions on some points ; but I hope 
that the general result of Colonel Dalton's paper will tend rather to 
confirm than to contradict most of that which I have written. In 
regard to the general Negrito character of the Dravidian tribes he 
fully bears me out. At the same time he seems to point to a consi- 
derable difference in the type of the Moondahs, Hos, Sontals, and 
others speaking the language which I have called Kolarian. He 
seems in some degree to support Major Tickell's account of the supe- 
rior physical qualities of the Hos, but he also tells us that other 
tribes of this race are much more degraded and less good looking. 
In fact, the principal tribes of the race, the Moondahs and Sontals, are 
now extremely well known, and it is patent to all that they are 
among the ugliest of mankind. The Sontals are a proverb for a 
combination of simple good nature and ugliness. Still, I quite a^mit 
that most of these people are less black and Negrito-looking than the 
Savage Dravidian tribes. I think I have already suggested, anct I 
am inclined to repeat, that they look in some respects more like 
Hottentots than Negroes. It is very much to be desired that a more 
complete study of their language should in some degree break 
through the complete isolation which has been hitherto attributed to 
it. It seems to have no affinity to the more Eastern tongues so far as 
lias yet been discovered. 



The Ethnology of India. 151 

I have been struck by those parts of Colonel Dalton's description, 
which would seem to show, among the more civilised of these tribes, 
some institutions akin to those of the modern Hindoos. Not only 
does it appear that the Kolarian tribes burn their dead, but also I 
notice that the systematic division of their tribes is very similar to 
that which I have described among the Hindoos, and especially that 
they have the peculiar rule which forbids intermarriage among people 
of the same tribe, and imposes on every man the necessity of taking 
his wife from another tribe. The question will be, whether the prac- 
tices common to Kolarians and Hindoos are borrowed by Kolarians 
from Hindoos, or by Hindoos from Kolarians. Many interesting sub- 
jects of inquiry may be opened out. 

Colonel Dalton's account of the tenacity with which some of the 
tribes cling to their ancient rights in the soil, seems somewhat at 
variance with the information which I had noted respecting their 
ready emigration. That many of them do emigrate, is certain ; but 
perhaps my information has reference to the Dravidians and less 
settled tribes, 

Colonel Dalton in one place speaks of the Kolarian Hos as more 
dignified and more like North American Indians, and the Dravidian 
Oraons as more like light-hearted Negroes ; but in other places he 
seems rather to confirm my suggestion that the Kolarian Sontals and 
Moondahs are an especially light-hearted race, and the Dravidians less 
so ; the Dravidian Oraons having, he says, learned their songs and 
dances from the Moondahs and other Kolarians among whom they 
have settled. Certainly the flat and broad-faced Sontals and Moon- 
dahs seem to bear no resemblance to the North American style of 
feature. 

Colonel Dalton more than confirms what I have said in regard to 
the increase of numbers of the Kolarian tribes of the Chota-Nagpore 
division. He tells us that, notwithstanding their tendency to drink, 
they increase rapidly. He evidently takes a most favourable view of 
them, and I think it impossible to doubt that we have in these tribes, 
in a healthy and accessible country in the immediate vicinity of the 
Capital of India, a people whom it behoves us to cherish and utilise— 
a people comparatively free from the peculiar vices of the modern 
Indians, simple, truthful and ready to receive our religion and the 



152 



The Ethnology of India. 



impress of our manners — possessed moreover of much industrial 
energy, laboriousness, and ductibility. To make such a people tho- 
roughly our own — to render the central and healthy plateau occupied 
by them a completely Christian and Anglicised country, would be 
(higher considerations apart) a very great source of strength and 
comfort to the English in India. I think that every effort should be 
made in this direction. 

Colonel Dalton has sent with his paper a grammar of the Oraon 
language by the Kev. Mr. Batsch. This is a Dravidian tongue. The 
Rev. Mr. Phillips has published a grammar and introduction to the 
Sontal language, but he has put it in the Bengallee character, some~ 
what unfortunately, as I think — for although I have'not aclvocated[the 
Romanising of the written vernacular languages, I should prefer to 
give to the Kolarian tribes, hitherto entirely without a written cha- 
racter, our own Roman letters, rather than those of the foreign and 
hated Bengallee. Since then Mr. Phillips's work is not available for 
my present purpose, I propose to re-publish, for comparison with Mr. 
Batsch's Oraon grammar, the brief grammar of the Kolarian " Ho" 
language, published by Major. Tickell in an old number of the So- 
ciety's Journal. I hope then, by placing, as appendices to the present 
publication, vocabularies of test words both Arian and Aboriginal 
(including in the latter both Dravidian, Kolarian and Indo-Chinese 
dialects), and the sketches of Dravidian and Kolarian grammar, to 
supply the rough elements for a comparison of all the dialects of 
India. And I trust that if a beginning is thus made, we may here* 
after obtain much information, more full, ample, and complete. 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



153 



The "Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. — By Lt.-Col. E. T. D Alton, Commis- 
sioner of Chota-Nagpore. 

[Received 27th July, 1866.] 

The country called Chota (or properly Chuttia) Nagpore is the 
eastern portion of the extensive plateau of Central India on which are 
the sources of the Koel, the Soobunreka, the Damoodah and other 
less known Indian rivers. It extends into Sirgoojah and forms what is 
called the Oopur Grhat or highland of Juspore, and it is connected by 
a continuous chain of hills with the Vindhyan and Kymore ranges, 
from which flow affluents of the Ganges, and with the highlands of 
Omerkuntuck on which are the sources of the Nurbudda. That the 
population of this watershed is found to be, for the most part, a hetero- 
geneous collection of non-Arian tribes, is in itself a fair proof that these 
tribes were at one time the inhabitants of the plains who, driven from 
their original sites at different periods by Braminical invaders, gra- 
dually fell back, following converging lines of rivers in their retreat, 
till from different directions, nations, some bearing marks of common 
origin though separated for ages, others bearing no trace of such 
affinity, met at the sources of the streams, and formed new nationali- 
ties in the secure asylum they found there. 

The plateau averages more than 2,000 feet above the sea level ; it 
is on all sides somewhat difficult of access, and it is owing to the 
security thus given, that the primitive tribes, still found on it, retained 
for ages so much of their independence and idiosyncracy. After over- 
coming the difficulties of the approach, these first settlers must have 
rejoiced at finding they had not merely reached the summit of a 
range of hills, but had ascended to a new country, well suited to their 
wants and out of reach of their enemies ; and here they made their 
final stand. 

They found a genial climate at this elevation and a well- wooded un- 
dulating country, divided and diversified by interior ranges of hills 
uplifting the fertilizing streams, or breaking out in rocky excrescences, 
sometimes in vast semi-globular masses of granite, like sunken domes 
of gigantic temples, sometimes in huge fragments piled in most fan- 



154 



The 11 Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



tastic forms, viewed with awe by the new settlers as the dwelling 
places of the local gods. 

The total area of the plateau thus occupied is about 7,000 square 
miles, and the present population may be estimated at a million ; more 
than half of whom are of the race best known to us by the name of 
" Kol." 

This word is one of the epithets of abuse applied by the Bramini- 
cal races to the aborigines of the country who opposed their early 
settlement, and it has adhered to the primitive inhabitants of Chota 
Nagpore for ages. It includes many tribes ; the people of this pro- 
vince to whom it is generally applied, are either Moondah or Oraon ; 
and though these races are now found in many parts of the country 
occupying the same villages, cultivating the same fields, celebrating 
together the same festivals, and enjoying the same amusements, they are 
of totally distinct origin and cannot intermarry without loss of caste. 

The received tradition is, that the Moondahs first occupied the 
country, and had been long settled there, when the Oraons made their 
appearance. The Moondahs believe themselves to be autochthonous, 
or at all events declare that they are all descended from one man and 
woman, who were produced or established themselves, at a place called 
Satyomba, which is revered by the whole tribe as the cradle of the 
race. 

Satyomba is the name of a pergunnah on the edge of the plateau 
.overlooking the valley of the Damoodah. It is not improbable that 
the Moondah race had previously occupied a position on that river, 
and that, in departing from it, the division took place which separated 
them from their brethren the Sonthals. The Sonthals, unquestion- 
ably a branch of the same people, have to this day a veneration for the 
Damoodah, and call it their sea ; and the ashes of their dead are always 
preserved till they have the opportunity of disposing of them by throwing 
them into that stream or burying them near its banks. The Sonthals, 
remaining in the plains, had easy access to the river and retained their 
veneration for it. The Moondahs, settling on the highlands, were 
less faithful to it, but from its name they might claim it as their 
own ; for, though Damoodur has been adopted as one of the sacred 
names of " Krishno," does not Dah-Moondah in their own language 
mean ( ' the water of the Moondah ?" 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore, 155 

We find the Moondah settlements chiefly in the eastern and 
southern parts of Chota-Nagpore, the Oraons predominating in the 
western ; and this strengthens the hypothesis that the Moondahs ascend- 
ed from the eastern side of the plateau. 

The intimate connection between the Sonthals, the Bhoomij and 
the Chota-Nagpore Moondah tribes has long been known. I have 
pointed out their affinity with the Korewahs of Sirgoojah and 
Juspoor, and have given some account of that wild clan.* I have 
now to add to the list the " Kheriahs" another aboriginal tribe 
settled on the plateau of Chota-Nagpore, and the " Juangas" of 
the Cuttack tributary mehals, whose women are so conservative in 
their notions, that they still adhere to the fashion in dress first 
introduced by mother Eve and wear nothing but leaves. I had 
often met with individuals and families of the Kheriah tribe, living 
in mixed communities, but from contact with other races they 
had lost much of their individuality, and I found it difficult to place 
them. 

This year, I happened to come upon some of their principal settle- 
ments in pergunnah Bussiah, on the southern borders of the portion 
of the plateau occupied by the Moondahs, and collected round me the 
elders of the tribe. These settlements all lie near the Koel, one of the 
streams from the watershed of Chota-Nagpore, which, after its union 
with the Sunkh in Gangpore, becomes the Bramni and terminates 
its career at Point Palmyras. 

The Kheriahs venerate the Koel as the Sonthals the Damoodah. 
They were in all probability once settled on its banks in the low- 
lands, and clinging to it in their retreat and adopting the place of 
refuge that it led to, regard it still as communicating with their 
fatherland, and with this idea the urns containing the ashes of their 
dead are dashed into a rock-broken rapid of the river, so that their 
contents may be rapidly borne away by the current to mingle with 
the ashes of their forefathers. 

They say their first settlement was Pora, a village on the Koel, and 
that there were no Moondahs in the country, at least in that part of 
it, when their ancestors first came there. There is sufficient resem- 
blance between the Kheriahs and Moondahs in language and customs 
* As. Soc. Journal, Vol. XXXIY. p. 1. 



156 



The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 



and appearance, to make us certain of their consanguinity, and at the 
same time sufficient divergence to lead to the inference that the 
relationship is a remote one, and that the two branches of the family- 
had been long separated when they met again on the banks of the 
Koel. These points of resemblance and divergence I will describe, 
when treating of the manners and customs of the race generally. 

The Juangas or Puttoons (leaf-clad) are noticed in a paper by 
Mr. E. A. Samuells.* They are found in the Cuttack tributary 
mehals of Keonjur, Pal Lehra, Dhekenal and Hindole. They are 
thus isolated from all other branches of the Moondah family, and 
have not themselves the least notion of their connection with them ; 
but their language, a specimen of which is given in the table 
appended, shews they are of the same race, and that their nearest 
kinsmen are the Kheriahs, a fragment of the tribe left behind when 
the remainder ascended the valley of the Koel. The Hos of Sing- 
bhoom have a tradition that they once wore leaves only, and not 
long ago threatened to revert to them, unless cloth-sellers lowered 
their prices ! 

The Bhoomij form the majority of the population in all the estates 
of the Manbhoom district to the south of the Kassae river. As they 
approach the confines of Chota-Nagpore, they appear to be called 
indiscriminately Moondahs or Bhoomij, and they intermarry. More 
to the east the Bhoomij have become Hindooized, or rather Ben- 
galeeized, to a great extent, and many of them have acquired consider- 
able estates, like the Mankees of Chota-Nagpore, and positions of 
influence as " Sirdar Grhatwalls," the hereditary custodians of the 
passes. 

The characteristics of the tribe that they most tenaciously cling to, 
are the national dances and songs. The Bhoomij appear to have 
been the first to colonise the large pergunnah called Dhulbhoom or 
G-hatsillah, attached to the Singbhoom district. The Rajah or 
Zemindar is, in all probability, himself a Bhoomij by race, though 
(without thereby improving his pedigree, so far as I can see) he 
endeavours to conceal his extraction under one of those hazy traditions 
that Bramins always have ready for families in want of them. His 
ancestor, according to their version, was a washerman, a Dhoby who 
* As. Soc. Journal, Yol. XXV. p. 295, 1856. 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



157 



saved the goddess Kali when, as Runkini, she ran away from Pochete. 
Discredit has attached to the Bhoomij and Sonthal in consequence of 
the human sacrifices offered at this shrine of Runkini, hut the whole 
establishment and ritual are essentially Braminical. The Bhoomij 
and Sonthal races personally do not much care for the blood-thirsty 
goddess. The Bhoomij is the branch of the Moondah race that has 
spread farthest in an eastern direction. Bhoomij are to be found in 
Mohurbhunj and Keonjur, though perhaps not so much at home there 
as in Dhulbhoom. 

The Sonthals are now chiefly massed in the Sonthal Pergunnahs, 
but they muster strong in Mohurbhunj, and there are several colonies 
of them in the Singbhoom district. They are an erratic race, and 
their ancient traditions are lost in the history of their modern migra- 
tions ; but my idea is that their chief settlements in Bengal were once 
on the Damoodah river, and that they gave way to the Koormees, an 
industrious Hindoo race, who now form the bulk of the population in 
that part of Manbhoom. 

In a southerly direction the next tribe of " Dasyus" that we come 
across are the Khunds, but I am unable to trace any point of resem- 
blance between them and the Moondah, either in their religion with 
its morbid superstitions and horrible human sacrifices, or in their 
language. 

To trace the further ramifications of the Moondahs we must proceed 
west, not south, and take up the link in the hills and highest table- 
lands of Sirgoojah and Juspore, where we find the wildest of the race 
in the Korewahs. I have given a brief note on them in the paper 
above quoted, and have only to add that the Korewahs are quite 
unaware of the connectionship between themselves and the Kols. 
They do not acknowledge, and do not see, that the languages are almost 
identical. This would not, I conceive, have been the case if the 
Korewahs had broken off from their Satyomba kinsfolk. 

The Korewahs are another branch of the family, and the history 
of their migrations is no doubt an independent one. It is probable 
that they were forced back into the hills they now occupy by the 
Grooands, as a Hindooized clan of that people became the dominant 
race in the plains of Sirgoojah. Moreover, as pointed out by 
Mr. Gr. Campbell, at a late meeting of the Society, we have in 



158 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 

this Journal* a brief notice of a tribe called " Coour Gooand," and 
a vocabulary which proves them to be not Gooand at all, but 
another branch of the great family we are describing, occupying the 
Gavilghur- range of hills near Ellichpore. Dr. Latham mentions 
in connection with them another tribe which he calls Chunah, but I 
have no further information about them. If the investigation is 
carried out, we shall, no doubt, find connecting links in the intervening 
ranges of hills. 

Thus we have in the Coours of Ellichpoor, the Korewahs of 
Sirgoojah and Juspore, the Moondahs and the Kheriahs of Chota- 
Nagpore, the Hos of Singbhoom, the Bhoomij of Manbhoom and 
Dhulbhoom, and the Sonthals of Manbhoom, Singbhoom, Cuttack, 
tributary mehals, Hazareebagh and the Sonthal Pergunnahs (the author 
of the introduction to the Sonthal language, the Rev. J. Phillips, 
adds "Nakales and Koclas," I do not know where they are to be 
found,) a kindred people sufficiently numerous, if united, to form 
a nation of several millions of souls. They were, in all probability, 
one of the tribes that were most persistent in their hostility to 
the Arian invaders, and thus earned for themselves the epithets of 
"worshippers of mad gods," "haters of Bramins," "ferocious 
lookers," "inhuman," "flesh-eaters," " devourers of life," "possessed 
of magical powers," " changing their shape at will."f To this day, 
the Arians settled in Chota-Nagpore and Singbhoom firmly believe 
that the Moondahs have powers as wizards and witches, and can 
transform themselves into tigers and other beasts of prey, with the 
view of devouring their enemies, and that they can witch away the 
lives of man and beast. It is to the wildest and most savage of the 
tribe that such powers are generally ascribed ; and amongst the Kols 
themselves the belief in the magic powers of their brethren is so 
strong, that I have heard converts to Christianity assert they were 
first induced to turn to our religion, because sorcery had apparently 
no power over those who were baptized ! The upper classes of the 
Moondahs, those who aspire to be Zemindars, have assumed the 
" poita" and taken to Bramins and Kali, but the mass of the people 
adore their " mad gods" still, after their own primitive fashion. The 
great propitiatory sacrifices to the local deities or devils are carousals 

* As. Soc. Journal, Yol. XIII. p.. 19. t See Muir's Sanscrit texts. 



TJie " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 159 

at which they eat, drink, sing, dance and make love, but though the 
austere "munis" of old must have stood aghast at such wild ebulli- 
tions of devotion, it is a fact that whilst the mass of the Kols have 
not taken to the worship of any Hindoo idols, the Hindoos settled 
in the province think it expedient to propitiate the gods of the 
Kols. It is gratifying that the darkness in which this primitive and 
interesting people have so long dwelt, is now being dispelled by a 
brighter light : that their paganism is at length yielding to the 
gentle influence of Christian teaching ■ that there is abroad amongst 
them a widespread feeling that a change is necessary, a change more 
perfect than can be typified by the adoption of a " poita" 

As the Moondahs first settled at Satyomba spread over the country, 
they formed themselves into communities called Purhas, or the country 
was divided into Purhas, each consisting of twelve or more villages 
under a chief. They do not appear in their earlier days to have 
acknowledged any chief, superior to the head of the Purha ; the 
ordinary business of the community was conducted by him, and on 
extraordinary occasions, the Purha chiefs met and took counsel together. 

Vestiges of this ancient system are still met with in many parts 
of the country. Though ignored as geographical or fiscal or territorial 
divisions, the Purhas still exist in the eyes of the people, and they 
still have chiefs whom they call Rajahs, men of influence and weight, 
who preside when a meeting is called to adjudicate regarding breaches 
of social observances, and who take the lead on the great hunting 
expeditions and national festivals. 

It is said that the Moondahs were in a very wild state, occupying 
but a small portion of the plateau, when the Oraons, driven from the 
Ehotas hills, swarmed into the country, and sought and obtained 
permission to occupy it jointly with the Moondahs. Both Moondahs 
and Oraons declare there was on this occasion no fighting. The 
former were glad to obtain assistance in reclaiming the country they 
had adopted, and the Oraons are said to have come with large herds 
of cattle and implements of husbandry previously unknown to the 
Moondahs. 

It is probable that the Moondahs of those days were not more 
advanced than are to this day their brethren, the hill Korewahs of 
Sirgoojah, a tribe that know not the use of the plough : but they 



160 The il Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 

were great hunters, and could sing and dance and make merry. The 
Oraon youth and maidens speedily acquired the songs and the steps, 
and this I doubt not aided greatly the harmonious blending of the 
two peoples. 

There are no ancient temples or other antiquities on the plateau of 
Chota-Nagpore to indicate that the early Braminical races or 
Buddhists ever obtained a footing there ; there is no tradition even 
of the " Munis" having sought retreats amongst its rocks or by its 
waterfalls for their devotional exercises. We find such monuments 
in Sirgoojah to the very foot of the western face of the plateau ; and, as 
I have recently described in a paper dovoted to the antiquities of 
Manbhoom, we find numerous remains of Arian colonization close to 
its southern and eastern approaches, but none on the platean itself. 
Left to themselves, the Kols increased and multiplied, and lived a happy 
arcadian sort of life under their republican form of government for 
many centuries ; but it is said that a wily Bramin at last obtained a 
footing amongst them, and an important change in the form of 
government was the result. 

The Rajah of the Purha of which Satyomba was the head quarters, 
was a Moondah named Madura. His occupation of the supposed 
cradle of the race gave him precedence in the confederate councils ; 
and a child of his house, reared in it if not born there, was, through 
his influence and by the advice of a Bramin he had taken into his 
service, elected supreme chief over the whole confederacy ; but as it 
would not suit the noble family, his descendants, to have it supposed 
that their ancestor was one of the despised race called Kol, they have 
adopted the following legend as their origin : — 

" When Jonmajoya, Rajah of Hustinapoor, attempted the destruc- 
tion of the Nags or Serpent race, one of them, Poondorik, assumed the 
form of a Brahmin and went to the house of a Bramin at Benares 
to study the 1 shasters.' The Benares Bramin, pleased with the 
intelligence and grace of his pupil, gave him his only daughter 
1 Parbutee' to be his wife. Poondorik and his wife, Parbutee, 
together visited Juggernath, and on their return, passing through this 
country, then called ' Jharkhund/ the forest land, she was seized 
with the pains of labour near Satyomba, and gave birth to a child 
and died. 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 161 

" Madura's Bi 'amin happening to pass, bearing an image of the sun 
worshipped by the Moondahs, saw the child sleeping and protected by 
a snake with expanded hood. This snake was Poondorik, relapsed 
into his original form. He addressed the Bramin, told his own 
story and the story of the child's birth, declared that the babe was 
destined to be a great Rajah, and that his name was to be Funimatuk 
Boy, 'the snake hood crowned,' a worshipper of the sun, whose image^ 
the Bramin bore, and the Bramin was to be the family priest. 
The snake then vanished. The child was taken to Madura's house 
and adopted and brought up with his own son, a boy of much the 
same age. When Funimatuk Boy was twelve years of age, Madura 
convened the Purha chiefs, and it is said the neighbouring Rajahs, 
including the Rajah of Sirgoojah and the Dytya Rajah, and suggested 
that one of the two lads should be selected as the Rajah of Nagpore, 
The lads were subjected to an examination, when it was found that 
the snake boy had already acquired all the accomplishments necessary 
for his destined position, whilst the other was a mere rustic. It was 
then (according to the annals of the Nagbunsee family) ruled, that 
Funimatuk Roy and his heirs for ever should be the Rajahs, and that 
the Moondah's child and his descendants should bear burdens, and 
thus all who claim to hold lands as descendants of the Moondahs and 
Oroans that first cleared them, are bound, when called on, to bear the 
burdens imposed on them by the Rajah and his assigns !" 

It is frankly admitted in the annals I quote from, that a difficulty 
arose regarding Funimatuk's birth, when he sought in marriage the 
daughter of the Sikurbhoom (or Pochete) Rajah. The Sikurbhoom 
family priest was sent to examine the certificates of birth and found 
none : but Rajah Matuck Roy prayed for the intercession of his 
ophidian parent ; he had calmly contemplated his position and put 
it to his father, that if the Sikurbhoom priest was not satisfied, a 
Moondah or an Oroan girl should become Queen of Nagpore. This 
was not to be thought of. So the Nag once more entered an appear- 
ance, satisfied the Bramin by a relation of wonders, and since then 
the Nagbunsis have always intermarried with the best Rajpoot families. 
It is particularly noted that at Funimatuk Roy's wedding-feast the 
Oroans and Moondahs all got drunk and began to fight, and the Rajah 
of Nagpore and Madura had to obtain the assistance of his guests, the 



162 



Tlie 11 Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



Rajah of Sirgoojah and the Dytya Rajah, to separate them. The 
Dytya Rajah was, I presume, the Rajah of Patkoom, as that famiiy 
bear the surname of Adytya to this day. 

The marriage was celebrated at Satyomba, and there the first Rajah 
resided in a mud fort. The fourth in descent from Funimatuk moved 
his court to Ghuttia, where we have the remains of a fort with masonry 
walls and some stone temples ascribed to him. Subsequently Doisa 
was chosen as the seat of Government, and here are some fine buildings, 
shewing that the family were improving in art and in civilization, 
when they moved there. This site also has been abandoned, and the 
present Rajah lives in a very mean house at Palkote. 

The sway of the Rajah of Chota-Nagpore does not, in early times, 
appear to have extended beyond the plateau or fringe of hills which 
divide it from the plains, but the Moondahs overran those limits and 
formed colonies in what are now called the five pergunnahs — Silli, 
Tamar, Barundah, Rabey and Booncloo — which did not acknowledge 
the Rajah-elect of Satyomba. In time, each of these pergunnahs 
elected a Rajah of its own, who (their descendants declare) were each 
of a divine or miraculous birth, like Funimatuk Roy ; and on the 
strength of it they all call themselves Chuttrees and wear the cord. 
They intermarry amongst themselves or with the petty Rajahs of 
Manbhoom who are of similar origin ; so their claim to be Chuttrees, 
or at all events Hindoos of respectable caste, is not disputed. According 
to their own tradition, the Rajahs of the five pergunnahs first forfeited 
their independence by submitting to pay tribute to the Rajah of 
Cuttack. Eventually, however, they were subjugated by the Maha- 
rajah of Chota-Nagpore, and submitted to pay tribute to and accept 
the " Tilluck" or symbol of investiture from him. The Moondahs 
comprise about two -thirds of the population of the five pergunnahs, 
and all who are not Moondahs are settlers of no very ancient date. 

In the northern and western parts' of Chota-Nagpore, the authority 
of the old Moondah or Oraon chiefs has been almost effaced by the 
middlemen who have been introduced by the Zemindars as more 
profitable farmers, or by the Bramins, Rajpoots and others to whom, 
for religious or secular services, grants have been made by the 
Maharajah and members of his family holding under him. In many 
instances, the Kols have been entirely dispossessed of the lands their 



The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpare. 163 

ancestors brought under cultivation, and ryots from other parts of 
India, more subservient to the wishes of the farmers, have been intro- 
duced. In some villages the peasant proprietory right of the aborigines 
has been entirely extinguished, and the few of that class that remain 
are found in the position of farm labourers. 

In the southern parts of Chota-Xagpore the Moondah chiefs, there 
as in Singbhoom called Mankees, have managed to retain their position, 
first, by resisting in open arms all attempts to encroach upon it, and 
lastly, by a settlement suggested and brought about by the officers of 
the British Government and concluded with the Maharajah shortly 
after the Kol disturbances in A. D. 1S33. 

These Mankees have each under them about as many villages as 
formerly were included in a " Purha," and they pay a quit rent to the 
Maharajah as a commutation of the service and tribute in kind 
formerly paid to him as Lord Paramount, and they collect this and a 
little more as the contribution for their own support from the heads 
of villages, who again collect according to ancient custom at fixed rates 
from the villagers. There is fixity of tenure throughout, from the 
Maharajah to the cultivator, notwithstanding the intervention of the 
Mankee, the. village Moondah, or Mohto. This is no doubt a living 
exemplification of the relation that, in older times, subsisted between 
the cultivator of the soil and his chief in most parts of India. 

In the Hoor Lurka Kols of Singbhoom we have a people who ; 
till recently, had no notion of what it was to pay rent to any one, or 
even to give pecuniary support to their chiefs. They had their 
Mankees and Moondahs, but no one exercised any right arising from 
a title in the land except the cultivators. We have a very interesting 
description of the Hos, their country and their languages, by Colonel 
Tickell,* and to this, before proceeding further with my memoir, I 
will add a brief sketch of their history. 

The Singbhoom district is of a singular interest to the ethnologist, 
That portion of it called the Colehan, the Ho-desum or country proper 
of the Hos, is a series of fair and fertile plains, broken, divided and 
surrounded by hills ; about 60 miles in length from north to south, 
and from 35 to 60 in breadth from east to west. It has to the south 
and south east the tributary estates, Mohurbhun, Keonjur, Bonai 
* As. Soc. Journal. Vol. IX. pp. 783. 997. 1063. 



164 



The " Kols" of CJiota-Wagpore. 



and Gangpore, inhabited by Ooriah-speaking Hindoos, to the east 
and north the Bengalee pergunnah of Dhulbhoom and district of 
Manbhoom, and north and north-east the Hindee district of Lohar- 
daggah, and it is occupied by a race totally distinct by descent, 
custom, religion and language from any of the three. A people on 
whose smiling country covetous eyes have often been directed, but 
into which no one ever attempted with impunity to intrude. 

It is impossible to say when the Hos first entered Singbhoom ; but 
as we find that the Chota-Nagpore Moondahs more and more assimilate 
to the Hos, as we approach Singbhoom from Chota-Nagpore, we may 
safely infer that the Hos came originally from that country ; and this 
is their own tradition. They appear to have brought with them and 
retained their system of confederate government by Purhas, but in 
Singbhoom the word now used to express it, is Pirhi or Peer. Thus 
the Colehan is divided into Pirhis, each under a Mankee as chief of 
the Pirhi, and each village having its Moondah as headman. 

According to their own tradition, the Hos displaced a nation of 
Jains settled in the eastern parts of Singbhoom, some remains of 
whom are still extant, and a nation of Bhuyahs from the western and 
southern parts, driving them out of, and appropriating to their own 
exclusive use, the richest part of the country. From these early times, 
probably more than 2,000 years ago, they have proudly held the 
country they acquired ; and, in my humble opinion, they have the 
right to say they never submitted to rulers of an alien race, till they 
were forced to do so by the power of the British Empire. 

At the commencement of the present century, Singbhoom was only 
known to the British Government as a country under the rule of 
certain Rajpoot chiefs, all of one family, whose independence, when we 
first occupied the Orissa Provinces, Lord Wellesley promised to respect. 
After the final cession of all the surrounding districts in 1819 these 
chiefs, occupying a territory that embraces the Colehan, voluntarily 
submitted to the British Government, and immediately sought the 
assistance of that Government in reducing the " Hos" to submis'sion, 
asserting that the Hos were their subjects then in rebellion ; but they 
admitted that for fifty years they had exercised no authority over 
them, and I find no proof that the Hos had at any former period ever 
submitted to them. It is not pretended that they were conquered; 



Hie " Kols" of CJwta-Nagpore. 165 

but supremacy was claimed by the Rajpoot Rajahs over the Ho tribes 
next to them, thus dividing the country and the people amongst four 
Rajpoot chiefs, the Rajahs of Mohurbhunj and Porahat, Koer of 
Seraikilla, and Thakoor of Khursowan. 

It is true that the chiefs of Singbhoom, ancestors of the Rajahs of 
Porahat, Seraikilla and Thakoor of Khursowan, obtained great influ- 
ence over their wild neighbours. They were gradually induced to 
believe tales which gave to the founder of this family a miraculous 
birth in their country, and they accorded to him divine honors, whilst 
they repudiated the idea of his being their temporal chief. The 
oldest surviving member of the Porahat family tells me that no 
regular tribute was ever received from the Colehan, but they were 
treated and employed rather as friendly allies than as subjects, and at 
certain seasons presents of trifling value were received from them and 
presents given in return. 

When a division of the estate of the Singhoom chief occurred, the 
brothers each took, with the share assigned to him, a share in the good- 
will of the Hos. Thus the Seraikilla and Khursowan families claimed 
the allegiance of the tribes nearest to them. The claim of the 
Mohurbhunj Rajah sprang up as the Kols extended their cultivation, 
till it touched or ran over his boundary. But it is admitted that all 
recorded attempts of the Rajpoot chiefs to subdue them had been 
signally defeated. 

On the last occasion, the great grandfather of the present Maharajah 
of Chota-Nagpore, at the head of 20,000 of his own men co-operating 
with the forces of the Singbhoom Rajpoot chiefs, entered the Colehan. 
The Hos allowed him to do this ; they then fell on his army in masses 
and, routing it with immense slaughter, ignominiously expelled him, 
pursuing him into his own territory, and severely retaliating on the 
border villages of the Maharajah and his allies. 

It was no doubt in retaliation for these attacks on their independence 
that the Hos now became, as they were found to be when first brought 
to our notice (in 1819-20), the scourge of the inhabitants of the more 
civilized parts of Singbhoom and of all the surrounding districts. 
They shewed no mercy to the Braminical inhabitants of the villages 
they attacked and pillaged. A long line of Bramin villages on the 
Bramin river in Gangpoor was laid waste by them and has remained 



166 The 11 Koh" of Clwta-Nagpore. 

depopulated ever since. No traveller ever ventured to pass through 
their country. No Bramin, Rajpoot or other Hindoo caste, or Mussal- 
man was suffered to reside in it. 

In 1820, the Agent Governor- General, Major Roughsedge, entered 
the Colehan at the head of a force consisting of a battalion of infantry, 
with cavalry and artillery. He was surprised to find the wild race, 
of whom he had heard such disparaging accounts, in possession of an 
open undulating and richly cultivated country, studded with villages 
in groves of magnificent tamarind and mango trees, abounding in 
unusual indications of rural wealth. He was allowed to enter on this 
scene unmolested, but the slaughter of some of his camp-followers, 
who had incautiously strayed into one of the villages, demonstrated 
the hostility of the people, and an attempt to capture the murderers 
brought about the first collision between the Hos and our troops. 
A party of cavalry, sent to the offending village, was met in the open 
field by 300 warriors, who undauntedly advanced to meet the charge, 
rushed between the ranks of the horsemen, hacking especially at the 
horses with their formidable battle-axes, and shewing no disposition to 
yield or to turn, till half their number had been sabred or shot. In 
the village where the murder was committed, was found a reserve of 
60 men who fought desperately and were all killed ! The same evening 
another body of Lurkahs* attacked the rear of the column and cut 
off a convoy of supplies. It became necessary to act with vigour, and 
the old Hos of the present day describe the retaliation that now fell 
upon them as dreadfully severe. Eventually some intercepted mails 
were restored uninjured, as a token of submission, and the Lurka chiefs 
in the vicinity entered into engagements to acknowledge and pay 
tribute to the Rajah of Singbhooni.f * 

Major Roughsedge met with further opposition in his progress 
towards Sumbulpoor through the Southern Peers : he had in fact to 
fight his way out of the country ; and on his leaving it a war broke 
out between the Kols who had submitted, and those who had not. 
One hundred Hindustanee burkundazes under a Soobadar were sent 
by the Agent to the support of the Rajah and his Lurka allies, and 
this for a time gave them the advantage ; but the Soobadar having 

* " Laraka," the fig-liters, a common name for the Hos, 
f Major Roughsedge' s dispatches, 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 167 

been induced to enter the Colehan to assist in levying a contribution, 
was attacked, and he and the tvJiole of the party cut up ! 

In 1821 a large force was employed to reduce the Lurkas to 
submission, and after a month's hostilities, the leaders, encouraged by a 
proclamation surrendered and entered into engagement, binding them- 
selves to subjection to the British Government, and agreeing to pay 
to the chiefs at the rate of 8 annas for each plough. It was now 
noticed that the Lurkas evinced a perfect willingness to be guided 
and ruled by British officers, and the utmost repugnance to the 
authority arrogated over them by the Singbhoom chiefs ; and it would 
have saved much blood, expense and trouble, if this feeling had at the 
time been taken advantage of. Made over to the chiefs, they soon 
again became restive and reverted to their old practices of resistance 
and pillage. The circle of depredations gradually increased, till it had 
included Dhulbhoom, devastated Bamunghatee, and extended to some 
parts of Chota-Nagpore. The chiefs under whom the Lurkas had 
been placed could not control them, and for some five years, from 1830 
to 1836 the Hos, maintained this hostile attitude. 

In consequence of this unsatisfactory state of affairs, a proposal 
made by Captain Wilkinson in August 1836, to employ a force and 
thoroughly subdue the Lurkas, and then to take the whole tribe under 
the direct management of British officers, was favourably received by 
Government and promptly acted on. Two Regiments of Infantry 
and two Brigades of guns entered Singbhoom in November 1836, and 
operations were immediately commenced against the refractory Peers ; 
and by February following all the Mankees and Moondahs had 
submitted and bound themselves by fresh engagements to obey and 
pay revenue to the British Government, and no longer to follow the 
orders of the chiefs to whom they had previously been required to 
submit. Six hundred and twenty-two villages, with a population 
estimated at 90,000 souls, of whom more than three-fourths are Hos, 
were thus brought and have since remained under the immediate 
control of the British Government. Since then, the population and 
spread of cultivation have immensely increased, and the people are 
now peaceful, prosperous and happy. From the region round about 
the station, Chybassah, 170 miles due west from Calcutta, the waste 
lands have entirely disappeared. Colonies of Hindus may now be 



168 



The " Kols" of Glwta-Nagpore. 



found settled in the heart of the Colehan, occupying villages apart 
from the Hos, but without demur placing themselves under the Ho 
Mankees of Peers. For their own system of government is, as far as 
possible, preserved, and the Mankees are officers of police as well as 
the tuhsildars or rent-collectors of their circles. One great change is 
now being peaceably introduced, the old system of assessment on 
ploughs is under process of commutation to a light assessment on the 
land. 

This is undoubtedly the nucleus of the Moondah nation, the most 
compact, the purest, most powerful and most interesting division of 
the whole race, and in appearance decidedly the best looking. In 
their erect carriage and fine manly bearing, the Hos look like a people 
that have maintained and are proud of their independence. Many 
have features of sufficiently good cast to entitle them to rank as Arians ; 
high noses, large but well formed mouths, beautiful teeth, and the 
facial angle as good as in the Hindu races. The figures both of 
male and female freely displayed by the extreme scantiness of the 
national costume are often models of beauty ; but this description 
applies only to the people of the highly cultivated part of the 
country who have seldom been subjected to severe privation and who 
generally fare right well. The inhabitants of the imperfectly reclaimed 
hill forests are more savage-looking, but they seldom deteriorate to 
the almost simian physiognomy that the Oraons are found with 
under similar circumstances. When the face of the Moondah varies 
from the Arian or Caucasian type, it appears to me rather to merge 
into the Mongolian than the Negro. High cheek bones, small openings 
for the eyes, having in some rare instances a tendency to the peculiar 
oblique set of the Mongolian, and flattish faces without much beard or 
whisker. They are of average stature, and in colour vary from brown 
to tawny yellow. 

II. — The Oraons. 
The Oraons have a tradition that they were once settled in G-uzerat. 
They were expelled from that part of India, and, retreating east, made a 
stand at fort Kalinjur where they fought the " Loorik Sowrik" of " Pali- 
pipri," were defeated, and, retreating still east, settled on the Rhotas 
hills. Here they say, they remained unmolested till attacked and 



TJie " Kols" of Clwta-Nagpore. 169 

driven from the hills by the Mahomedans in the reign of the emperor 
Akbar, but as they aver this occurred fifty-two generations ago, there 
is an anachronism somewhere. I think they were settled in Chota 
Nagpore centuries before the days of Akbar, but it is probable that 
some of the clan remained in the Rhotas hills until the Mahomedans 
constructed their fortress there. 

The accounts of ancient G-uzerat faintly confirm the Oraon tradition. 
I find from Thornton's G-azetteer that there is a race settled there from 
remote antiquity who are called Coolies ; but there is nothing in the 
name, which, as I observed before, appears to have been applied very 
generally to the aborigines by the Arians, and the account given of 
the Coolies does not lead me to suppose they are of the Oraon family. 
There is, however, a short description of what appears to be a remnant of 
a tribe, which would answer perfectly fortheOraons, — "A small, active, 
well built race, engaged to some extent in cultivation, but by choice 
deriving their subsistence, as far as possible, from the chase, fishing, 
or the collecting of wild fruits and the marketable produce of the 
jungles for sale. Their peculiar pursuits, little relished or shared in 
by the rest of the community, caused them to be viewed with dislike 
and dread, and the reputation of possessing great powers in sorcery 
subjects them to much cruel treatment." 

Every word of the above description applies to the Oraon tribe, 
and the name given to this remnant of a people viz. "Dunjas," is an 
Oraon word not unlike the term Dhangurh, so commonly applied to 
the Oraons in the countries to which they emigrate for work. 

The names traditionally handed down amongst the Oraons, as Loorik 
Sowrik, allude probably to some tribe of Sravacks or Sowoks or Jains, 
and the Palipipri might refer to the Palithana mountains, the Jain 
temples on which are amongst the most interesting architectural works 
in India. The etymology of the word Oraon, I have not been able 
to trace satisfactorily, but it may have been applied to the tribe 
in consequence of their migratory habits. They call themselves 
" Khoonkir." 

Between the language of the Oraons and the language of the 
Moondahs and their cognates, I can trace no similarity either in 
pronunciation, formation, construction or general character. With 
pretty copious vocabularies before me, I'can find no analogues, and 



170 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



whilst the language of the Moondahs is soft and sonorous, that of the 
Oraons is guttural and harsh. Doctor Latham, in his descriptive ethnolo- 
gy, has noticed the near connection of the Oraon, Rajmahal hill and 
Tamul languages, and especially observes on the similarity of the 
personal pronouns. 



English. Rajmahal. Oraon. Tamul, &c 

I En En nam, En. 

Thou Nin .Nin Nin 

He, she, it Ath As Ata 

We Nim Em Nam 

Ye Nina Nim Nim 

They Awar Ar Awar 

Out of a vocabulary of about 24 Oraon and Tamul words, I .find 
the following analogues. 

English. Tamul, Tuda. Oraon. 

Man Al Al Al 

Eye Kam Kan Khan 

Tooth Pal Paroh Pulla 



But I find in the language now spoken by the Oraons, words -of 
Sanscrit origin not in common use, .as " puph" flower, ">arnb" water, 
" kesh" hair, indicative of their having occupied some country in 
common with people speaking a Sanscrit or Prakrit dialect. 

The annexed notes on the language with which I have been favoured 
by the Rev. Frederic Batsch, senior Missionary at Ranchee, will, I 
hope, throw some light on the subject. The resemblance between the 
Oraon and Tamul language does not invalidate their own migratory 
traditions, for it is not more marked than the relation between the 
Tamul and the language of the G-oncls and others. 

Their physical peculiarities are as different from those of the 
Moondah as are their linguistic characteristics. The Oroans must be 
regarded as a very small race, not short and scraat like some of the 
Indo-Chinese stock, but a well proportioned small race. The young 
men and women have light graceful figures and are as active as 
monkies. Their complexions are, as a rule, of the darkest ; but if we 
take as our type those who dwell in mixed communities, we find great 
variety in feature and colour. If we take those who, living in isolated 
positions, may be supposed to offer us the purest blood, we find them 



The " KoW of Clwta-Nagpore. 171 

generally dart and ill-favoured. They have wide months, thick lips 
and projecting maxillary processes, nostrils wide apart, and no elevation 
of nose to speak of, and low though not in general very receding 
foreheads. I have seen amongst them heads that in the woolly crispness 
of the hair completed the similitude of the Oraons to the Negro. It 
may be said that the class I am describing have degenerated in feature 
from living a wilder and' more savage life than others- of their clan ; 
but I do not. find this degeneracy of feature amongst the Jushpore 
Korewahs,. who are to the Moondahs of Chota-Nagpore what the 
Jushpore Oraons are to the Oraons of the same district.* I found the 
Korewahs mostly short of stature, but with well knit muscular frames, 
complexion brown not black, sharp bright deep set eyes, noses not de- 
ficient in prominency, somewhat high check bones, but without notable 
♦maxillary protuberances. In the more civilized parts of the province-, 
both Oraons and Moondahs improve in appearance. The former indeed 
still retain their somewhat diminutive appearance, but in complexion 
they are fairer, in features softer, some even good looking, and the 
youthful amongst them all pleasing from their usual happy contented 
expression and imperturbable good humour. 

Driven from the Bhotas hills, the Oraons, according to their own 
tradition, separated into two great divisions. One of these, moving 
east, found a final resting-place in the Rajmahal hills ; the other, going 
south, sought refuge in the Palamow hills, and wandered from valley 
to valley in those ranges, till they found themselves in Burway, a hill- 
locked estate in Chota-Nagpore proper. From thence they occupied 
the highlands of J ushpore and formed the settlements in the vicinity 
of Lohardugga, on the Chota-Nagpore plateau, where they still 
constitute the bulk of the population. The Satyomba Moondahs had 
not effected settlements so far to the west. 

The identity of the language spoken by the Rajmahal hill people 
(not the Sonthals) and that of the Oraons is full' and sufficient 
confirmation, of the tradition of their common origin, and of the 
division of the tribe spoken of above ; but a comparison of the customs 
of the Rajmahal hill people, who being isolated must have retained 
those they brought with them to the hills, with the customs of the 
Oraons, demonstrates that the latter are derived from the Moondahs* 
* Asiatic Society's Journal; VoL XXXIV. p. 15. 



172 TJie " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 

Ref erring to Col. Walter Sherwill's account of tlie Rajniahal hill 
people,* I find, in regard to marriage, that it is customary for the 
young couple to sleep together on the same bed before marriage. 
The Oraons would consider this a very indecorous proceeding, though 
a public recognition that the young couple have slept together after 
the marriage is vith the Oraons an important sequel to the ceremony. 
In the Rajmahal hills, says Col. Sherwill, the dead are buried. The 
Rig Veda and Ramayun tell us that this was the custom of the 
Dusyas, but the Moondahs and their cognates all burn their dead, and 
the Oraons follow their example. 

The Rajmahal hill men swear on salt, the Oraons have a veneration 
for salt, but swear on dab grass,f huldee and rice. 

The Oraons know nothing of Bedo Gosain, the invisible spirit 
adored by the Rajmahalies. Their supreme deity is the sun under* 
the title of Dhurmo, but as that and the Rajmahalee term are both of 
Sanscrit origin, it evinces that neither race have in their own language 
any word for the Deity. 

Lastly, the hill man is described as less cheerful than the Sonthal, 
less industrious, and as not joining in the dances that the people of 
the Moondah stock are so devoted to. In Chota-Nagpore the Oraons 
are more lively than the Moondahs, quite as industrious, and the most 
enthusiastic and nimble-footed of the dancers. 

The two races, Moondah and Oraon, must have been for ages the 
only colonists of the plateau ; it is singular that they have no tradition 
of any disqute having arisen between them. Affecting jealously to 
guard against admixture of the races by sexual intercourse, they in 
other respects lived as one people, the Oraon conforming more to the 
customs of the Moondah than the Moondahs to the Oraon, and in 
many instances adopting the Moondah language and losing their own. 

In villages east of Ranchee, though inhabited wholly by Oraons, the 
Moondah, not Oraon, is the language spoken ; but the Moondah language 
is not much known in the vicinity of Lohardaggah or in Jushpore. 

The village systems of the two people became almost identical in 
form. The village priest, called the Pahan, is probably an Oraon 
institution, as, I think, amongst the Moondahs the principle is that the 
head of the family is priest ; but the Moondahs of Chota-Nagpore 

* Asiatic Society's Journal, Vol. XX. p. 544. f Agrostis linearis. 



The " Zo/s" of Chota-Nagpore. 173 

adopted it, and in their villages, as well as in those of the Oraons, 
there is always a Pahan. The village system now existing is such as it 
became after many encroachments by the Rajah and the middlemen 
introduced by him. Still as bearing the impress of a very primitive 
form of government, it is worth describing, and in doing so, I 
will make use of a very elaborate report on the subject written by 
Doctor Davidson in 1839. 

The actual descendants of the men who formed the villages are 
called Bhuinhurs. They are a privileged class, who hold their lands 
at low fixed rates or rent-free, but they are bound to do service to the 
chief or his representative. The head of the Bhuinhurs is called the 
Moondah, and is generally the representative of the old Moondah chief 
of the village. He presides when meetings are held to settle disputes 
about social customs ; and all demands for service on the Bhuinhurs by 
the proprietor or farmer are made through him. He holds his lands as 
Bhuinhurree, and has no other emolument. 

The Mahto, though second in point of rank, is the most important 
functionary in the village. He has the assessment and settlement of 
all lands not held by the hereditary cultivators ; collects all dues and 
rents, and is responsible for them to the farmer or proprietor. He 
holds for his services one powa of land rent-free, and in some villages 
gets a fee of one or two pice annually from each ryot. The office is 
not hereditary. 

The Pahan is the village priest. He is a Moondah or Oraon by 
caste, but all observances for propitiating the village gods or devils 
are performed by him. No Bramins are permitted to interfere. The 
office of Pahan is generally hereditary, but is not necessarily so. He 
has under his charge the land called " Dalikhatari," and from the 
proceeds of this land, he has to support himself and to provide the rice 
and rice-beer required for the great festivals. 

The Bhandari assists in the collection of rents, summoning ryots 
who have to do work or whose attendance is required by the Zemin- 
dar or farmer, and in looking after the collections made in kind. He 
has an allowance of one jpowa of land, and gets from each ryot one 
herai or bundle of each crop as it is cut. 

There is a Gorait for each village, and a Kotewar for one or more 
villages. The former is the messenger of the Zemindar or his repre- 
sentative, the latter is the Police officer. 



174 



The "Kols" of Chota-Nagpom. 



The villagers maintain a blacksmith and a Gowala or herd ; the 
latter takes care of all the village cattle, and is supposed to be respon- 
sible if any are stolen. They each get a maund of dhan for every 
plough and three kerais, bundles, of other crops. 

According to the tradition of theKols, the Raj ah is entitled to the rent 
of only half of the land in each village. The remainder is Bhuinhurree, 
or rent-free under some other denomination, but in most villages rent 
is now taken on from two-thirds to three-fourths of the land. The 
land is thus divided : — 

I. Rughus — the land that pays rent to the owner or his represent- 
ative. 

II. Bhetketta, a certain portion of the Rughus which each ryot, 
not a Bhuinhur, is allowed to cultivate free of rent, but for which he 
has to perform various services to the landlord or farmer. 

III. The land allotted to the Mahto, the Pahan and the Bhundari. 

IV. Munghus — the land at the disposal of the landlord or his agent 
or the farmer of the village. For the cultivation of this fend, the 
holder of the village can make any arrangement that he pleases. 

V. Bhuinhurree is the land held rent free by the descendants of the 
founder of the village, who are, however, bound to render certain 
services to the Rajah or his representative. 

VI. Bhootketta — the land, the produce of which is appropriated to 
the expense of the great village poojas and festivals; a portion of this 
called " Dalikkatari" is assigned to the Pahan for the ordinary annual 
poojas, and the proceeds of the remainder are reserved for the triennial 
sacrifices and extraordinary occasions. s 

The rent is assessed on the wet land only. The cultivator is 
entitled to upland in proportion to the wet land for which he pays. 
If he cultivates more, the custom is for a payment in kind called 
Muswur, to be made when the crop is harvested. 

The Bhuinhurs cling most tenaciously to their Bhuinhurree lands. 
Insurrections have followed attempts to disturb these tenures, and even 
now such attempts are sure to lead to serious affrays. The Kol insur- 
rection of 1833 was; without doubt, mainly caused by the encroach- 
ments of alien farmers and sub -proprietors on the rights of the 
descendants of the old settlers. The first burst of the outbreak was a 
pretty broad hint, a general conflagration of the houses of alien farmer* 



The 11 Kols' of Chota-Nagpore, 



175 



and sub-proprietors, and the massacre of all that the incensed Kols 
could find. 

The Kols of Chota-Nagpore, generally a good-tempered, mild, inoffen- 
sive race, become wild with excitement on this question, and nothing 
can reconcile them to a decree or order which in any way infringes on 
what they consider their proprietary right. According to their theory, 
dispossession for generations can no more annul their right in the 
land than it can, extinguish the ties of blood. The courts will not 
always accept this doctrine, and the Kols cannot regard as equitable 
any decision that excludes it. 

An Oraon family lives very promiscuously in a small, indiffer- 
ently constructed and untidy looking hut, and their village often consists 
of a street or court of such huts. In all that relates to their inner 
domestic life, they are less susceptible of improvement than the other 
tribes. They have no gardens or orchards attached to individual houses, 
but the groves of fruit-trees that they plant outside the village form a 
beautiful feature in the scenery of Chota-Nagpore, and they have 
generally, in and about the village, some fine trees which are common 
property. In every Oraon village of old standing there is a house called 
the " Doouicooreea" (Bachelor's Hall), in which all unmarried men 
and boys of the tribe are obliged to sleep. Any one absenting himself 
and spending the night elsewhere in the village is fined. In this 
building the flags, musical instruments, yaks' tails, dancing equipments 
and other property used at the festivals are kept. They have a regular 
system of fagging in the Doorncooreea. The small boys have to 
shampoo the limbs of their luxurious masters, and obey all orders 
of the elders, who also systematically bully them to make them, it is 
alleged, hardy. In some villages the unmarried girls have a 
house to themselves, an old woman being appointed as Duenna 
to look after them. She is always armed with a stick to keep the 
boys off. A circular space, in front of the Doomcoorea, is kept 
clear as the village dancing ground. It is generally sheltered by 
fine old trees, and seats are placed all round for spectators or tired 
dancers. 

The Doorncooreea is never used by boys of the Moondah tribe. It is an 
institution quite unknown to the Hos, but the Moondahs and Hos build 
themselves houses in which all the family can be decently acconmio- 



176 



The "ZoZs" of Chota-Nagpore. 



dated. Their houses are more isolated, occupy much more space and 
are in appearance much more civilized than those of the Oraons, with 
verandahs, well raised plinths and separate apartments for the married 
and single members of the family. Every Moondah village has its 
dancing place, though it has no Doomcooreea. The best Korewah 
villages consist of about forty houses built round a large square, in the 
centre of which is the dancing arena ; but as the Korewahs are nomads, 
changing their abodes every second or third year, their villages may 
be regarded as mere standing camps. The Kheriahs build substantial 
comfortable houses like the Hos. It is curious they have the same 
word " 0" for a house and the sky. The Moondah word " Ora" is, 
like the Turkoman " Ova," a house or tent. The flags kept in the 
Oraon Doomcooreea appear to be an Oraon institution. Every village 
or group of villages, probably the head quarters of each " Parha," has 
its peculiar flag, and we have actually had cases in courts praying for 
injunction against villages charged with having assumed flags that 
did not belong to them ! 

I will now proceed to review the customs of the Moondahs and 
Oraons together, taking care to note all points of divergence that are 
known to me. 

After the birth of a child, the mother has to undergo purification, 
and on the same day that this ceremony takes place, which is simply a 
process of ablution, the child is named. Elderly females or matrons, 
friends and relations assemble for this purpose, and a vessel containing 
water is placed in the midst, and as the name first selected is 
pronounced, one of the women drops a grain of rice into the water. 
If the grain of rice sinks, that name is discarded, and the experiment 
is repeated with the second name on the list, and so on till, as the name 
is pronounced, the grain floats. (Tho Garrows of the eastern frontier 
have a similar method for divining the name of the spirit they ought 
to invoke on particular occasions.) If the name of some friend is 
chosen, it is considered as establishing a tie between the child and his 
namesake, resembling that which subsists between a Christian child 
and his godfather. The person whose name is selected is always 
called Saki or Sakhi, a word of Sanscrit origin meaning friend, so that 
in "nam Saki" we have in meaning and sound our word namesake. 
The following are some names of girls, Jambi 3 Jiina, Jingi, Turki, 



The " Kols" of Ghota-Nagpore. 177 

Sulgi,* Pongla, Madhi, Makoo. Roomeca Saggi, Dinli, Natri, Akli, 
Bangi, Julli, and the Hindoo names of the days of the week are very 
commonly given. The following are the names of boys — Rumsi, Birsa, 
Somra, Daharoo, Singra, Satri, Dubroo, Doolkoo, Didoo, Runka,Biggoo. 
But they have adopted many foreign names, and the names of British 
officers they have known and esteemed, are thus preserved amongst 
the Hos of Singbhoom, and may be handed down from generation to 
generation. Thus " Major" and " Captain" have become common 
names in the Colehan, originally taken from Major Roughsedge, the 
first British officer they ever saw, and Captain Wilkinson (now Col. 
Wilkinson) whom they regard as their greatest benefactor. Doctor, 
Tickell, &g. are also common. Girls, when three or four years of age, 
receive their mark of caste. Three lines tattooed on the forehead and 
two on each temple, four dots on the chin and one on the nose. It 
does not appear to be connected with any religious custom, nor is it 
applied with any ceremony, and as neither the Moondahs nor the 
Oraons have any particular term for it in their own language, it is 
probable that they adopted it from the Sudhs or Hindoos. Some 
Moondah girls of Chota-Nagpore have different marks. Those of 
Singbhoom have adopted the arrow, appropriately enough, as the 
national weapon of their lords and masters. 

The Kheriahs and Juangas, though isolated from the Moondahs and 
Oraons, have the same triple and double marks on the forehead and 
temples. The Oraon boys are marked, when children, on the arms by 
rather a severe process of puncturation, which they consider it manly to 
endure. The only reason I have heard assigned for this custom is, that 
through it even the naked dead may have a distinguishing mark. 

When a girl approaches maturity, it is incumbent on her to bind 
up her hair, and from that period of her life she is restricted to food 
prepared by her own people. As a child with her hair loose, she is 
permitted to partake of whatever is edible, no matter by whom prepared. 
Young men enjoy this liberty of appetite till they marry. They then, 
to use their own expression, put salt in their flesh, and must not 
partake of food prepared by aliens. The Oraons have a veneration 
for salt, and they are not absolutely prohibited from partaking of 

* A common name and also the Dame of a goddess, and the name, I see, of 
one of the young ladies from the Andaman Islands. 



178 



The 11 Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



plain rice cooked by others, provided they are left to salt it themselves. 
The salt, it would appear, thus applied, removes the " Taboo," and 
makes fas what is otherwise nefas. 

As a rule, marriages are not contracted till both the bride and 
bridegroom are of mature age. It is sometimes left to the parents 
to select wives for their sons, but the young people have ample 
opportunities for studying each others characters, love-making and 
following the bent of their own inclinations ; and it very often happens, 
that plans concocted by the parents are frustrated by the children. 

In Chota-Nagpore, amongst the agricultural classes, and in Sing- 
bhoom amongst all classes of Kols, the girls have all a price fixed upon 
them, and this the lover or his friends must arrange to pay, before the 
parents of the bride will give their consent. In Singbhoom, the price 
is so high, especially for young ladies of good family, that marriage is 
frequently put off till late in life ; and girls valued not so much for 
their charms and accomplishments as for their pedigree, often grow 
grey as maidens in the house of their fathers. Singbhoom is perhaps 
the only place in India in which old maids are found ; they have 
plenty of them there. But though urged to change this practice by 
all who take an interest in them, the old Mankees of Singbhoom are 
inflexible, not only in demanding a high price for their girls, but 
in insisting that it shall be paid, according to ancient custom, chiefly 
in cattle. A Mankee of the old school will not take less than 
forty head of cattle for his daughter ; but the eyes of the rising 
generation are opened to the absurdity of the practice, and some of us 
may live to see it changed. 

In consequence of this custom, the grown up boys and girls are 
quite a separate institution in every Kol village ; there is very little 
restraint on their intercourse, they form a very pleasant society of 
their own, from which the old people sensibly keep aloof. If a 
flirtation is known to have gone too far, the matter is generally settled 
by the young man being made to pay the price for the girl and 
marry her. 

In Chota-Nagpore the daughter of a Mankee was, some years ago, 
valued at about 36 lis , but they are gradually adopting the custom 
of the Hindoos in regard to their marriages, and giving up the 
objectionable practice of putting a price on them. The price paid by 



The " Kols" of Ghota-Nagpore. 179 

the common people ranges from 10 to 12 rupees. These disagreeable 
preliminaries having been arranged, the bridegroom and a large party 
of his friends of both sexes enter with much singing and dancing and 
sham fighting the village of the bride, where they meet the bride's 
party and are hospitably entertained. 

The bride and bridegroom are now well anointed with turmeric, and 
bathed, and then taken and wedded, not to each other, but to two 
trees ! The bride to a Mowa tree, the bridegroom to a Mango. They 
are made to touch the tree with " seendoor" (red lead), and then to 
clasp it in their arms. On returning, they are placed standing face to 
face, the girl on a curry stone over a ploughshare supported on 
sheaves of corn or grass. The bridegroom stands ungallantly treading 
on his bride's toes, and in this position touches her forehead with the 
red lead ; she touches his forehead in the same manner. The bride's 
maids then, after some preliminary splashing and sprinkling, pour 
a jar of water over the head of each : this necessitates a change of 
raiment, and apparently concludes the ceremony, as the young couple 
going inside to change, do not appear again till the cock-crowing 
announces the dawn or its approach. At the first crow the bride's maids, 
who with the young men have been merrily keeping it up all night 
with the song and dance, burst into the nuptial chamber and bring 
forth the blushing bride and her bashful lord ; and then they all go 
down to the river or to a tank to bathe, and parties of boys and girls 
form sides under the leadership of the bride and bridegroom, and pelt 
each other with clods of earth. The bridegroom next takes a water 
vessel and conceals it in the stream or water for the bride to find. 
She then conceals it from him, and when he has found it, she takes it up 
filled with water and places it on her head. She lifts her arm to 
support the pitcher, and the bridegroom, standing behind her with his 
bow strung, and the hand that grasps it lightly resting on her 
shoulder, discharges an arrow from the pretty loophole thus formed 
into the path before her. The girl walks on to where the arrow falls, 
and with head erect and still bearing the pitcher of water, she picks 
it up with her foot, takes it into her hand, and restores it to her 
husband with a graceful obeisance. She thus shews that she can 
adroitly perform her domestic duties and knows her duty to her lord 
and master, whilst he, on his part, in discharging an arrow to clear 



180 The 11 Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 

her path of an imaginary foe, indicates that he is prepared to perform 
his duty as her guide and protector through life. 

In the Oraon marriages, many of these symbolical ceremonies are 
pmitted, and the important one of exchanging the " sindoor" is 
differently performed. The bridegroom stands behind his bride with 
his toes on her heels, and stretches over her head to touch her forehead 
with the powder. She touches his forehead by reaching back over his 
shoulder. The cold bath completes the ceremony, they go to their own 
apartment to change their clothes, and do not emerge till morning. 

The price paid for a girl in cows is called " Sukmur" by the 
Kheriah tribe. They have no word for marriage in their own 
language, and the only ceremony used appears to be little more than 
a sort of public recognition of the cohabitation. They have learned 
to call this " biha," but they admitted to me that this public recogni- 
tion was often dispensed with. 

It takes place in this wise. After the settlement of the usual prelimi- 
naries, the bride is brought to the village of her intended bridegroom 
by her own people and their friends, and they halt and bivouac in the 
village grove. The bridegroom and his friends join them in the grove 
where they all regale themselves and dance, and during these nuptial 
dances the bride and - bridegroom are each borne on the hips of one of 
their dancing friends ; they are not allowed to put their feet to the 
ground. Thus wildly dancing, they proceed into the village, and the 
bride and bridegroom are taken to the latter's house and anointed with 
oil ; they are then brought outside, and the ceremony of touching each 
other's forehead with the " sindoor" is performed, followed by the 
splashing and sousing which becomes a general romp. Then the 
young couple are left to themselves till morning. The bride's maids 
arouse them as the cock crows, and after the public ablution of 
garments and their wearers the party breaks up. 

The gestures of the dancers on these occasions, and the songs, all 
bear more directly than delicately on what is evidently considered as 
the main object of the festivities. 

In Singbhoom, marriages, notwithstanding the lateness at which 
they take place are generally arranged by the parents, but their 
wishes are not unfrequently anticipated by love matches. In the 
various journeyings to and fro that are found necessary when a match 



The " Koh" of Ghota-Nagpere. 181 

is being arranged, omens are carefully observed, and the match is broken 
off, if they are unfavourable. At the actual marriage there is much 
feasting and dancing, but little ceremony. The turning point of the 
affair is, when the bride and bridegroom mix and drink off some of 
the beer they have each been helped to ; the boy pours some of the 
beer given to him into the girl's cup, she pours from her cup into the 
boy's cup, and they drink and thus become of the same " liceli" or 
clan, for the Hos, Moondahs and Oraons are all divided into families 
under this name, and may not take to wife a girl of their own keeli. 

This division of the primitive races into something having a 
semblance to caste, will be found in the North Eastern Frontier as well 
as in this province. The Grarrows, for instance, are divided into what 
are called " maharis," and a man may not marry a girl of his own 
niahari. 

It is obvious that the custom does not spring from any such notion 
of caste as are found amongst the Hindoos, and that it is not one 
which these races have adopted from the Hindoos, because with a 
Hindoo, caste is destroyed by a marriage out of it. It is equally 
opposed to the custom of the Jews, whose daughters (at least if 
heiresses) were obliged to take husbands of their own tribe.* 

In Singbhoom the bride and bridegroom do not touch each other 
with " sindoor\ as is the custom in Chota-Nagpore. The Oraons and 
Moondahs may have adopted the custom from the Hindoos, and the 
primitive practice of the race is probably as it is found amongst the 
more isolated Hos. 

A very singular scene may sometimes be noticed in the markets of 
Singbhoom. A young man suddenly makes a pounce on a girl and 
carries her off bodily, his friends covering the retreat (like a group 
from the picture of the rape of the Sabines). This is generally a 
summary method of surmounting the obstacles that cruel parents may 
have placed in the lovers' path ; but though it is sometimes done in 
anticipation of the favourable inclination of the girl herself, and in spite 
of her struggles and tears, no disinterested person interferes, and the 
girls, late companions of the abducted maiden, often applaud the 
exploit. 

The Ho husband has to pay a high price for his wife, and it is 
* Numbers xxxvi. 6. 



182 



The 11 Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



certain that he highly appreciates her. Although he is not known 
to have for her any more endearing epithet than " my old woman," 
yet by no civilized race are wives treated with more consideration 
than by the untutored Ho. The whole of the domestic arrange- 
ments are under her exclusive management. She is consulted on 
all occasions, and I know one or two husbands whom I am almost 
inclined to regard as henpecked. The Kols seldom take a second 
wife during the lifetime of the first, but I know instances of their 
having done so. The wife always cooks for her husband, and when 
the dinner is ready, they sit down and eat it together like Christians ; 
but the Oraons have followed the Hindoo custom of making the 
Woman eat the leavings of her lord. 

It is customary with all these tribes to pay particular attention to 
omens, when any of them set out to arrange the preliminaries of a 
marriage. The Hos who are more under the influence of this 
superstition than their cognates or than the Oraons, have a long list 
of deterrent signs, which have been described by Tickell in his paper 
above quoted. I subjoin the most noticeable of those that are observed 
by the Oraons. 

1. On leaving the house " to win a bride", they look out for 
omens. If a cow calls and the calf responds, it is good. If there is no 
response, the wooing is postponed or abandoned. 

2. If they find a dead mouse on the road, they must stop and 
make a diagnosis. If ants and flies have possessed themselves of the 
carcass, it is good, they go on. If the insects appear to have shunned 
it (which is not very likely to happen), they go back. 

3. It is not good to meet oxen or buffaloes with their horns 
crossed, or to see a hawk strike a bird, or to come upon women 
washing clothes. It is good to see people burying a dead body, and 
to find on their road a cow giving milk to her calf. 

4. If they see a man cutting a tree, and the tree falls before they 
can get past it, it is very bad. If they pass before it falls, it is all 
right. A certain bird heard on the left gives a note of joy ; if heard 
on the right, he is a harbinger of woe. 

5. If, on approaching the village of the girl, they come on women 
with water-pots full, it is a happy omen. If they meet a party with 
empty water-pots, it is a bad one. 



The " Kols" of Clwta-Nagpore. 183 

The Nagpore Kols, whether of the Moondah or Oraon tribe, and all 
the cognates of the Moondahs that I know of, are passionately fond of 
dancing, and with them dancing is as much an accomplishment as it is 
with the civilized nations of Europe. They have a great variety 
of dances, and in each different steps and figures are used, of great 
intricacy, but they are performed with a neatness and precision that 
can only be acquired by great practice. Little children are hardly 
on their legs, before they begin to learn their dancing steps ; and 
the result of this early training is that, however difficult the 
step, the limbs of the performers move as if they belonged to one 
body. They have musical voices and a great variety of simple me- 
lodies. It is a fact that, when we raised a corps of Kols, their early 
practice in keeping step and time greatly facilitated the operations 
of drill ; and the Missionaries have availed themselves of the musical 
talents and taste of the Kol converts to produce congregational singing 
that would be a credit to an English country church. 

The dances are seen to the greatest advantage at the great periodi- 
cal festivals called " Jatras." They are at appointed places and 
seasons, and when the day comes, all take a holiday and proceed to the 
spot in their best array. The girls, on these occasions, put on their 
best dress, generally a white " saree" with a broad red border. They 
tastefully arrange flowers in their hair and plumes of the long breast 
feathers of the paddy-bird. The young men wear Turkey red turbans, 
and add a snow white cloth to their usually scanty garb, and also 
adorn themselves with flowers and peacock's feathers. As parties from 
the different villages come near the trysting place, they may be 
observed finishing their toilettes in the open fields ; when all is ready, 
the groups form, and their approach from different sides, with their 
banners and yak's tails waving, horns and symbols sounding, mar- 
shalled into alternate ranks of lads and lasses all keeping perfect 
step and dress, with the gay head-dresses of the girls and the numer- 
ous brass ornaments of the boys glittering in the sun, forms a very 
lively and pleasing picture. They enter the grove where the meeting 
is held in jaunty dashing style, wheeling and countermarching and 
forming lines, circles and columns with grace and precision. The 
dance with these movements is called " khurriah," and they are held 
in all months of the year, a series of them following each other at 



184 The " Kok" of Clwta-Nagpore. 

short intervals at different places all over the country, and the atten- 
dance, at some that I have seen, could not be under 5,000 people, all 
enjoying themselves. 

When they enter the grove, the different groups join and dance the 
khurriah together, forming one vast dancing procession. Then each 
takes its own place and plants its flag and dances round it till near 
sunset, when all go dancing home. This is followed by a carouse 
in the village, after which the dance is often continued at the 
" akrah" all night. 

At each of these " Jattras," a kind of fair is held, and fairings and 
refreshments are to be had in abundance. The young men can treat 
their partners with sweetmeats and do so. As already observed, 
there is a place in every village called " akrah" set apart for dancing 
and ceremonies. This is a circular arena with a post in the centre, 
and around it are benches for the spectators or for the dancers when 
wearied, the whole being generally shaded by fine old tamarind, the 
most beautiful of village trees. 

The season dances in the village open with the Tcurrum in July, 
at the commencement of the planting season. There is a movement 
in this dance called " hojar" when the girls suddenly kneel and pat 
the ground in time to the music, as if caressing and coaxing it to be 
productive. On the day appointed for the ceremony, the boys and 
girls go in procession to the kurrum tree, cut and bring back to the 
village some branches, which are planted in the akrah. An old 
man with a liberal allowance of beer is placed to watch these, whilst 
the young people refresh themselves. They all, old and young, then 
assemble in the akrah, and one of the elders harangues them, and 
after giving them much good advice, concludes by directing them to 
commence the dance. The songs sung on this occasion are in Hindee, 
and contain allusions to the flooded state of the rivers and fields. 
They also sing an ode to the Satyomba Rajah. The kurrum is kept 
by the Soodh or Hindoo population as well as by the Kols. 

After harvest of the earlier crop of the planted rice, in November, 
the " matha" is danced by the boys and girls in the village. The 
girls, moving in a semicircle and clasping each others hands, dance 
with a very lively step and bowing motion of the body to the men 
who sing and play to them. The girls have another dance at this 



The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 185 

season called " angua," because it is danced in front of the house 
instead of the alcrah ; to this and to a feast held on the occasion the 
young men are not invited. 

The "Jadoor" dances commence on the completion of the great 
harvest of the rice crop, and continue till the commencement of the 
hot season. This is one of the most characteristic dances, from the 
peculiar way in which the arms are interwoven and clasped behind 
the back of the performers. 

Then comes the Sarhool," at the close of the month of Phalgoon 
or early in March. The Sarhool is the flower of the Saul tree which 
now blossoms. The boys and girls make garlands of these flowers, 
weave them in their hair and decorate their houses with them. The 
dance on this occasion, called the " Baihini," is a very frisky one. 
The hoys and girls dance to each other, clasping hands and pirouetting, 
so as to cause '■' dos-a-dos" concussions which appear to constitute 
the best part of the fun. Yet the subject of the song sung at the 
Sarhool feast is a sad one. A girl who had married out of the village 
is supposed to return to it in affliction, and to sit weeping at one side 
of the house, whilst her former associates are revelling at the other. 
The songs are in the Moondah language. 

They have besides different dances for weddings, and a dance called 
" Jumhir" which is suited to any occasion. The dances above briefly 
noticed are all more or less connected with some religious ceremonv, 
but this is left to the elders. The young people seem to me to take 
little interest in that part of the festival, which is, in proportion to 
the dancing, in importance like the bread to Falstaff s sack. They 
are always ready for a dance, and night after night in some villages 
the akrah drums collect the youths and maidens after the evening 
meal, and if you go quietly to the scene, as I have done, you may 
find that, whilst some are dancing, others are flirting in the most 
demonstrative manner, seated in detached couples on the benches or 
on the roots of the great trees, with arms round each others' waists, 
looking lovingly into each others' faces. 

Next to dancing, that which most engrosses the mind of the Kol 
is the belief in and fear of witchcraft. All disease in men and in 
cattle is attributed to one of two causes, the wrath of some evil 
spirit who has to be appeased, or the spell of some witch or sorcerer 



186 



The " Kols" of Ghota-Nagpore. 



who should be destroyed. The fear of punishment and, I may add 
for some of them, the respect they bear to the orders of their rulers, 
restrain their hands, and witch murders are now very rare, but a 
village is soon made too hot to hold one who is supposed to be 
a witch. 

When a belief is entertained that sickness in a family, or mortality 
amongst cattle, or other misfortune has been brought about by sorcery, 
a Sokha or witch-finder is employed to find out who has cast the 
spell. By the Sokhas various methods of divination are employed. 
One of the most common is the test by the stone and " poila." The 
latter is a large wooden cup shaped like a half cocoanut, used as a 
measure for grain. It is placed under a flat stone, and becomes a 
pivot for the stone to turn on. A boy is then placed in a sitting 
position on the stone, supporting himself by his hands, and the names 
of all the people in the neighbourhood are slowly pronounced, and as 
each name is uttered, a few grains of rice are thrown at the boy ; 
when they come to the name of the witch or wizard, the stone turns 
and the boy rolls off ! 

There is no necessary collusion between the Sokha and the boy ; 
the motion of the hand throwing the rice produces coma, and the 
Sokha is, I suppose, sufficiently a mesmerist to bring about the required 
xesult when he pleases. 

The Singbhoom Kols or Hos, left to themselves, not only considered 
it necessary to put to death a witch thus denounced, but if she had 
children or other blood relations, they must all perish, as all of the 
same blood were supposed to be tainted. 

In 1857, when, in consequence of the mutinies, Singbhoom was 
temporarily without officers, the Ho tribes of the southern parts of 
the district, alwa) s the most turbulent, released from a restraint they 
had never been very patient under, set to work to search out the 
witches and sorcerers who, it was supposed, from the long spell of 
protection they had enjoyed, had increased and multiplied to a danger- 
ous extent. In a report on this subject from the district officer, in 
1860, it is stated that " the destruction of human life that ensued 
is too terrible to contemplate ; whole families were put an end to. In 
some instances the destroyers, issuing forth in the dusk and commen- 
cing with the denounced wizard and his household, went from house 



The u ZoZs" of Chota-Nagpore. 187 

to house, until before the morning dawn they had succeeded in ex-_ 
tinguishing, as they supposed, the whole race." On the suppression 
of the disturbances, the return of the refractory Hos to order was as 
sudden and decisive as had been their relapse into barbarism. The 
survivors of the families who had suffered at once emerged with confi- 
dence from their hiding-places, and of the cases of witchcraft-murder, 
thus or otherwise brought to notice, the perpetrators were in almost 
every instance prosecuted to conviction. 

It was melancholy to have to condemn men who themselves artlessly 
detailed every incident of the crime with which they were charged. 
The work of retribution was a sad task, but it was rigorously carried 
out, and we have not since then had a single case of witchcraft murder 
in the Colehan. That the belief in the existence of witches and sorcerers 
is consequently extirpated, cannot be hoped. Nothing but their 
conversion from paganism could effect this. I am convinced that 
in most instances the prisoners, who in their examinations detailed 
the most marvellous effects of imputed sorcery, were sincere believers 
in all that they narrated. 

One of them, named Mora, saw his wife killed by a tiger, which 
he followed till it led him to the house of a man named Poosa whom 
he knew. He told Poosa's relations what had occurred, declaring to 
them that Poosa had, in the form of a tiger, killed and eaten his 
wife. The relatives appealed to, did not for a moment discredit the 
charge. They said they were aware that Poosa did possess the 
imputed power of metamorphosis. They brought him out and, deliver- 
ing him bound to his accuser, stood by whilst Mora deliberately put 
him to death, 

In explanation of their having so acted, they deposed that Poosa 
had one night devoured an entire goat and roared like a tiger, whilst 
he was eating it ; and on another occasion he informed his friends he 
had a longing to eat a particular bullock, and that very night that 
very bullock was killed and devoured by a tiger ! 

From their having lived so long together, it is not surprising that 
we should find the religious ceremonies of the Oraon and Moondah, 
almost identical. The Oraons have adopted the religion of the 
Moondah, but they retain some features of their original faith which 
indicate that it was in many essential points different from that to 
which they have conformed. 



188 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 

. I have already observed that the Pahan or village priest is in all 
probability an Oraon institution. The Rajmahali have a similar 
functionary called ' Demam,' who foretells events, offers sacrifices, 
regulates feasts and exorcises devils. In the Ho and Moondah villages, 
all priestly functions may be performed by the head of the family, or, 
if the occasion be one in which the village generally is concerned, by 
any elder of the requisite knowledge and experience. They worship 
the sun, "Singbonga," as the supreme being, the creator, the preserver ; 
and a number of secondary gods, all invisible ; material idol worship 
they have none. The paganism of the Ho and Moondah in all 
essential features is shamanistic. 

The Oraons, in addition to the Pahan whose business it is to offer 
sacrifices for the benefit of the community, have recourse to a person 
called " Ojha" whom they consult regarding the proper spirit to be 
invoked and the nature of the sacrifice that is required of them, and 
whose functions appear to me to bear a strong resemblance to those 
of the medicine man of the African tribes. The Oraons have wooden 
images or stones to represent the village and domestic spirits that they 
worship. Thus a carved post in the centre of their dancing arena 
represents the tutelary deity of the village, " Daroo ;" and they have 
objects of some kind to represent their domestic gods, penates. 

They never build a house, or select a new site for a village or even 
a new threshing-floor, without consulting the ojha and omens. When 
a new house is ready for the reception of its owners, an ojha is called, 
and he takes earth from the hearth and charcoal, and mixing them 
together, marks on the floor a magic circle. In the centre of this 
he places an egg, and on the egg a split twig of the Bel tree. The 
egg is then roasted and eaten by the people who are to occupy 
the house. This is followed by a great feast and dancing — a regular 
house-warming — on the top of the house an image of a fish is hung 
to avert the evil -eye. These peculiarities in the paganism of the 
Oraon, and only practised by Moondahs who live in the same village 
with them, appear to me to savour thoroughly of feticism : before 
affirming this positively, it would be advisable to examine more 
minutely the customs of the Kajmahal hill tribes ; but the elephant 
gods, depicted by W. Sherwill as seen in their villages, are very fetish 
in appearance.* 

* Vide Journal, Asiatic Society Bengal, No. VII. 1851, page 553. 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 189 

The Moondahs, without applying to an ojha or medicine-man, 
consult auguries in choosing the site of a house, with prayer to 
Singbonga. A small quantity of rice is placed in holes made at the 
four corners of the selected site, where it is left all night ; and if found 
undisturbed in the morning, the site is good. The same process is 
gone through in selecting a new site for a village. Prayer is offered 
to Singbonga twice, first, that the test applied may truly indicate 
if the site be good or bad ; secondly, for a blessing on the chosen site. 

It is the fashion to call the religion of the Kols ' devil worship,' but 
this is not strictly correct ; for although the minor deities may be mostly 
of a malevolent nature and therefore devils who have to be propitiated, 
still Singbonga is worshipped as a beneficent god. This worship 
of the sun as the supreme deity is the foundation of the religion 
of the Oraons as well as the Moondahs. By the former he is invoked 
as Dhurmi, the holy one. He is the creator and the preserver, and 
with reference to his purity, white animals are offered to him by his 
votaries. He is not regarded as the author of sickness or calamity ; 
but he may be appealed to to avert it, and this appeal is often made, 
when the sacrifices to the minor deities have been unproductive. 

But besides these occasional sacrifices, all M<fbndahs who hold to 
the faith of their ancestors, are especially bound to make a certain 
number of offerings to Singbonga during their tenure of the posi- 
tion of head of the family. He may take his own time about them, 
but he will not be happy in his mind till he completes his comple- 
ment and clears the account. I obtained this information from the 
Kheriahs, and on speaking about it to some ancient Pahans and 
Moondah elders, was told that it undoubtedly is the orthodox practice, 
but it has been neglected. The sacrifices are five in number : 
1st, fowls ; 2nd, a pig ; 3rd, a white goat ; 4th, a ram ; 5th, a buffalo ; 
and they must be offered in the open plain in front of an ant 
hill, or with an ant hill as an altar. Sacrifices to other gods are 
generally offered in the " Saerna,"* the sacred grove of Sal trees, the 
remnant of the primeval forest left for the spirits when the settlement 
was first made. 

The names and attributes of the inferior deities are nearly the same 
amongst the Hos in Singbhoom, the Moondahs and Oraons in Chota- 
* Or ' Saran/ ' Charan.' 




190 The u Kols' of Chota- Nagpore. 

Nagpore, and amongst the Sonthals ' passim.' Marang Booroo and 
Pongla his wife ; Desaoolli, Jaer Boori, Eekin Bonga, Boora Bonga, 
Charee Desoolli and Dara are invoked in Chota- Nagpore. 

The Sonthals have Marang Booroo, also Maniko his brother and 
Jaer his sister. Tickell's paper in Vol. IX, part 2nd of this Journal 
gives the Singbhoom gods and their attributes. They too have 
Marang Booroo and Pongala, Desaoolli and Jaer Boori or Jaer Era 
and others. In cases of sickness the Ho, after ascertaining by augury 
which of the gods should be propitiated, will go on offering sacrifices 
till the patient recovers or his live stock is entirely exhausted. 

Next to Singbonga I am inclined to place the deity that is adored 
as " Marang Booroo." Booroo means mountain, but every mountain 
has its spirit, and the word is therefore used to mean god or spirit* 
also. Marang Booroo is the great spirit or great mountain. Not far 
from the village of Lodmah in Chota- Nagpore one of the most 
conspicuous hills on the plateau is called Marang Booroo, and here 
the great spirit is supposed to dwell. It is worshipped by the 
Sonthals, the Bhoomij, the Hos, the Moondahs and the Oraons. The 
two latter make pilgrimages to it. The Hos have some vague notion 
of its situation ; th* more distant members of the family canonize 
some hill more conveniently situated. 

The Marang Booroo is especially venerated as the lord of rain. 
Before the rains the women go to the top of the hill, under the 
leadership of the wives of the Pahans, with drums, which are on this 
occasion only played on by young ladies, and with offerings of milk 
and leaves of the Bel tree. On the top of the hill there is a flat mass 
of rock on which they deposit their offerings. 

The wives of the Pahans now kneel clown, and with hair loosened 
invoke the deity, beseeching him to give their crops seasonable rain. 
They shake their heads violently as they reiterate this prayer, till they 
work themselves into a phrensy, and the movement becomes involuntary. 
They go on thus wildly gesticulating, till a " little cloud like a man's 
hand" is seen. Then they arise, take up the drums, and dance the 
Kurrun on the rock, till Marang Booroo's response to their prayer is 
heard in the distant rumbling of thunder, and they go home rejoicing. 
^* Thus they have for their altars groves and high places like the idolatrous 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 191 

They must go " fasting to the mount," and stay there till " there is a 
sound of abundance of rain," when they get them down to eat and 
drink. My informant tells me it always comes before evening. We 
must conclude that the old women are wonderfully clever at taking a 
' forecast,' and do not commence the fast till they sniff the rain. 

All the villagers living in the vicinity of the hill make offerings of 
goats, whenever they think it desirable to propitiate this spirit ; but he 
is not invoked in cases of sickness, unless the ojha declares it necessary. 
Sometimes bullocks are offered. 

The next in importance in Chota-Nagpore appears to be the spirit 
Dara, whom the Oraons and Moondahs living with them adore in the 
form of a carved post stuck up where the great jatras are held, or in 
the village dancing place. Dara appears to be a god of rather 
bacchanalian characteristics, worshipped amidst much revelling and 
wassail. A sacrifice to him of fowls is followed by a feast in his 
honour, at which all the elders drink themselves into a state of sottish 
drunkenness, whilst the young people dance and make love ; and next 
day comes the jatr a which all the country attend. 

The Penates are generally called the " old folks." They are in 
fact the manes of the votaries' ancestors ; votive' offerings are made to 
them when their descendants go on a journey, and they are generally 
the first that are propitiated when there is sickness in the family. 
By the Singbhoom Kols, the manes of the ancestors of the principal 
lady of the house are also honoured. The offerings to them are made 
on the path by which she was brought home as a bride. Desaoolli 
and Jaeroolli are propitiated for harvests and for cattle, Chandoo 
Seekur, the same probably as the Chanala of the Hos, for children. 

The Pahan has to solemnize regularly the following festivals. The 
Hurihur, at the commencement of the planting season. Every one 
then plants a branch of the Belowa in his field and each contributes 
a fowl, a pitcher of beer and a handful of rice to the feast. The sacrifice 
is offered to Desaoolli, Jaer Boori and others, in the Saerna. 

During the Sarhool— when the Sal tree blossoms — the sacrifice of a 
goat and fowls is offered in the Saerna by the Pahan to the manes of the 
founders of the village and to Dara. The introduction of the Sal 
blossom, in memory of the forest that was cleared when the village was 
formed, is very appropriate. At the khurria Poojah, when the rice is 



192 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 

harvested, the sacrifice is offered and the feast takes place on the 
Pafa&frfs threshing floor. 

Dalikattari : every second year a fowl, every third year a ram, 
every fourth year a buffalo. To provide what is required for this feast, 
the Pahan holds the Dalikattaree land. 

I have already alluded to the division of the Moondahs and their 
cognates into " Keelles" or clans. Many of the Oraon clans and 
some of the Moondah in Chota-Nagpore are called after animals, and 
they must not kill or eat what they are named after. 

Thus the Moondah " Enidhi" and the Oraon " Minjrar" or Eel 
tribe will not kill or eat that fish. The Hawk, Crow, Heron tribes 
will not kill or eat those birds. Livingstone, quoted in Latham,* tells 
us that the sub-tribes of the Bitshaunas (or Bechuanas) are similarly 
named after certain animals, and a tribe never eats the animal from 
which it is named, using the term, " zla," hate or dread, in reference 
to killing it. 

The above curious coincidence tempts me to give a few more details 
regarding the Oraon clans. 

The " Tirki" — have an objection to animals whose eyes are not 
yet open, and their own offspring are never shewn till they are wide 
awake. 

The " Ekkar" — will not touch the head of a tortoise. 
The " Katchoor" — object to water in which an elephant has been 
bathed. 

The " Amdiar" — will not eat the foam of the river. 
The " Kujrar" — will not eat the oil of the Kujri tree, or sit in its 
shade. 

The " Tiga"— will not eat the monkey. 

The Ho chiefs could give me no signification for the names in 
which their families rejoice. The following are the most aristocratic, 
the Boorioolli, the Poorthi, Sincoi, Baipoi, Soondee, Banclri. 

I do not know of any people who are more careful in regard to the 
disposal of their dead than are the tribes of whom I am treating, 
especially the Singbhoom Kols and best classes of the Moondahs. 

On the death of a Ho or Moondah, a very substantial coffin is 
constructed and placed on faggots of firewood. The body, carefully 
* Latham's Ethnology, Yol. II. p. 160. 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 193 

washed and anointed with oil and turmeric, is reverently laid in the 
coffin, and all the clothes and ornaments used by the deceased are 
placed with it, and also any money that he had about him when he 
died. Then the lid of the coffin is put on and faggots piled above 
and around it, and the whole is burned. The cremation takes place 
m front of the deceased's house. Next morning water is thrown on 
the ashes and search made for the bones ; all the larger fragments are 
carefully preserved, the remainder, with the ashes, are buried then and 
there. ^ The selected bones are placed in a vessel and hung up in the 
house in a place where they may be continually viewed by the widow 
or mother. Thus they remain till the very extensive arrangements 
necessary for the final disposal are effected. A large monumental 
stone has to be selected, and it is sometimes so large that the 
men of several villages are employed to move it. It is brought 
to the family burial place, which with the Hos is close to their 
houses, and with the Oraons generally separated from the village 
by a stream. A deep round hole is dug beside the stone, and when 
all is ready, a procession is formed consisting of one old woman 
carrying the bones on a decorated bamboo tray, one or two men 
with deep sounding wooden drums, and half a dozen young girls, 
those in the front rank carrying empty and partly broken pitchers] 
and brass vessels. The procession moves with a solemn ghostly 
sliding step, in time to the deep sounding drum. The old woman 
carries the tray on her head, but at regular intervals she slowly 
lowers it, and as she does so, the girls gently lower and mournfully 
reverse the pitchers and brass vessels, to shew that they are empty 

In this manner the remains are taken to the house of every friend 
and relative of the deceased, within a circle of a few miles and 
to every house in the village, and as it approaches, the inmates 
come out and mourn, as they call to mind all the good qualities of the 
deceased. The bones are thus conveyed also to all his favourite haunt^ 
to the fields he cultivated, to the grove he planted, to the threshing- 
floor where he worked, and to the aJcrah where he made merry. Whe^n 
this part of the ceremony is completed, the procession returns to the 
village and moves in circles round the grave, gradually approaching its 
goal : at last it stops, and a quantity of rice and other food, cooked and 
uncooked, is now cast into the hole. The bones are then put into a 



194 



The " Kols' of Chota-Nagpore. 



new earthen vessel and deposited on the rice, and the hole is filled in 
and covered with the large slah which effectually closes it against 
desecration. 

The collection of these massive grave stones under the fine old 
tamarind trees is a remarkable feature in Kol villages, and almost an 
indelible one, for they are found in many places where Kols have not 
existed for centuries. Besides the grave stones, monumental stones 
are set up outside the village to the memory of men of note. They 
are fixed in an earthen plinth, on which, shaded by the pillar, the ghost 
is supposed to sit. The Kheriahs have collections of these monu- 
ments in the little enclosure round their houses, and offerings and 
libations are constantly made to them. 

The funeral ceremonies above described are of a composite order, 
mingling with the Hindoo custom of cremation, what was in all 
probability their original mode of burial ; but a very profound 
reverence for the dead pervades them all. I think it is very probable 
that the Kols originally disposed of their dead differently. The coffin, 
though put together on the faggots that are to consume it, has projec- 
tions as if to facilitate transport. Omit the burning and substitute 
burial, and we have the careful disposal and subsequent adoration of the 
dead that is practised by the Chinese ; but the burning of the body and 
the long retention of the ashes in a portable form may have been 
adopted at a time when the tribe could not be certain of continued 
residence in one place. 

Tickell has given at length the Ho legend of the origin of the human 
race. It is supremely absurd, and very few of the present generation 
know anything or care anything about it. I have always found such 
legends changeable and untrustworthy. With no written record to 
give them permanence, they are altered either to suit neAv con- 
ditions or the fancy of the reciter. Thus though the Kols have 
known the English for little more than half a century, they assign to 
them a most honourable place in their genesis. The Assam Abors and 
Glarrows do just the same. 

I do not think that the present generation of Kols have any notion 
of a heaven or a hell that may not be traced to Brahminical or Christian 
teaching. The old idea is that the souls of the dead become " bhoots" 
spirits, but no thought of reward or punishment is connected with the 



The " Kok" of Ghota-Nagpore. 195 

change. When a Ho swears, the oath has no reference whatever to a 
future state. He prays, that if he speak not the truth he may be 
afflicted in this world with the loss of all, health, wealth, wife, children ; 
that he may sow without reaping and finally may be devoured by a 
tiger ; but he swears not by any hope of happiness beyond the grave. 
He has in his primitive state no such hope, and I believe that most 
Indian aborigines, though they may have some vague ideas of conti- 
nuous existence, will be found equally devoid of original notions in 
regard to the Judgment to come. 

It may be said that the funeral ceremonies I. have described, indicate 
clearly a belief in resurrection, else why should food, clothes and money 
be burned with the body or buried with the ashes ? The Kols have 
given me the same explanation of this that I once before received from 
the Chulikutta Mishmees in Upper Assam, who have no notion of any 
existence beyond the grave. They do not wish to benefit by the loss 
of their friend, which they would do if they were to appropriate any 
article belonging to him : they therefore give with him all his person- 
alties, all property that he and he alone used and benefited by ; but 
this does not apply to the stock of the farm and household property 
that all profit by, or even to new cloth, for that might have been 
procured for any member of the family. It often happens that a 
respectable < Ho' has goods of this nature, that he abstains from using 
even once, because if once used, the article will be destroyed at his 
death. 

The Moondah Oraon races are passionately fond of field sports, and 
are so successful that large and small game soon disappear from the 
vicinity of considerable settlements ; and they fear not to make a new 
settlement, consisting only of a few huts, in the jungles most infested 
by wild beasts. Every year at the commencement of the hot season, 
they form great hunting parties which are well described in Tickets 
memoir. They are also greatly addicted to cock-fighting. They have 
periodical meets at assigned places where hundreds of fighting cocks 
are collected. Cruel steel spurs are used, and the combat is always 
d Vouirance, the victims becoming the property of the owners of 
the victorious birds. This is, I think, the only stake. They are 
fond of fishing too, and some of them are very expert in spearing large 
fish. 



196 



The u Kols" of Chota-Nagpore. 



The amis of the Kols are to this day what they were in the days of 
" Rama" — the bow and arrow and battle-axe. The bow is simply 
a piece of bamboo, and the string is of the same material. The war 
arrows have large broad blades doubly and trebly barbed, but they 
make them of all shapes : poison they do not use. They commence 
practice with the bow and arrow at the earliest age. In Singbhoom 
boys three and four years old and upwards, when herding cattle or 
otherwise engaged, have always their bow, and blunt and sbarp arrows ; 
the former for practice, the latter to bring down birds when they have 
a chance. 

In the villages of Chota-Nagpore where the Oraon and Moondah are 
mixed up together, the difference of character between the two races 
is not much marked ; but if we compare the Singbhoom Hos or Chota- 
Nagpore Mankees and the Oraons, we see strong contrasts. The Oraon 
has the lively happy disposition of the Negro. He is fond of gaiety, 
decorating rather than clothing his person, and whether toiling or 
playing, is always cheerful. 

The Ho or Moondah has more the dignity and reserve of the North 
American Indian, at least when he is sober. He appears to less 
advantage when he is drunk, and he is not unfrequently in that state. 
At all festivals and ceremonies, deep potations of the rice-beer called 
" eeley" are freely indulged in by both sexes. Inspirited by this 
beverage, the young men and girls dance together all day and half the 
night ; but the dances are perfectly correct, and whenever these 
meetings have led to improprieties, it is always attributed to a too 
free indulgence in eeley. As a rule, the men are reserved and highly 
decorous in their treatment of the women ; and the girls, though 
totally free from the prudery that secludes altogether or averts the 
head of a Hindoo or Mahommeclan maiden when seen by a man, have 
a modest demeanour, combined with frank open manners and womanly 
grace. 

It is said by some, that at the seasons of their great festivals 
amongst themselves, breaches of chastity are of frequent occurrence ; 
but the mere freedom of intercourse allowed to the sexes is likely to 
be viewed with unmerited prejudice and misconstrued by their neigh- 
bours of different race who place such restrictions upon it, and I believe 
that this may give rise to false imputations of impropriety, It is, at 



The " Eols" of Ghota-Nagpore. 197 

all events, a fact that illegitimate births are rare. Out of her own 
tribe, a Ho girl is hardly ever known to go astray, though from the 
freedom allowed to her and, for a tropical climate, the ripe age at which 
she is likely to be sought in marriage, she must have to pass through 
many temptations. 

The Hos are acutely sensitive under abusive language that at all 
reflects upon them, and may be and often are driven to commit 
suicide by an angry word. If a woman appears mortified by anything 
that has been said, it is unsafe to let her go away till she is soothed. 
The men are almost as sensitive as the women, and you cannot offend 
them more than by doubting their word. It has often seemed to me 
that the more a statement tells against themselves, the more certain 
they are to tell the exact truth about it. It frequently happens that 
a man is himself the first person to bring to notice that he has com- 
mitted a crime ; he tells all about it, and deliberately gives himself up 
to be dealt with according to law. 

The Oraon is, I think, less truthful, he is more given to vagabondis- 
ing, and wandering over the face of the earth in search of employment ; 
he soon loses all the freshness of his character. He returns after an 
absence of years, unimproved in appearance, more given to drink and 
self-indulgence, less genial and truthful than before, with a bag of 
money that is soon improvidently spent. Those who have never left 
their own country have far more pleasing manners and dispositions, than 
those who return to it after years spent in other parts of India or 
beyond the seas. The fact is, they are not an improvable people. 
They are best seen in their wild state. 

There is no more pleasing trait amongst all these tribes than their 
kindly affectionate manner one towards another. I never saw girls 
quarrelling, and never heard them abuse each other. They are the 
most unspiteful of their sex, and the men never coarsely abuse and 
seldom speak harshly of the women. This is remarkable on this side 
of India where you seldom pass through a bazar without hearing women 
screeching indecent abuse at each other across the street, whilst the 
men look on. A Kol girl's vocabulary is as free from bad language of 
this kind as a Bengalee's is full of it. 

The young Oraons of both sexes are intensely fond of decorating 
their persons with beads and brass ornaments. These they entirely 



198 



The " Kols" of Chota-Nagjpore, 



discard on embracing Christianity, and the converts may be always 
recognised by the total absence of all such adornment. The converts 
do not join in the dances, or festivals, and must not even be seen as 
spectators, when they are going on. They appear indeed to lose all 
relish for their old amusements, and shrink with horror at the idea of 
resuming their discarded ornaments. And as Christianity is rapidly 
spreading amongst them, and in all probability will continue to spread 
more and more rapidly every year, it is quite possible that in the course 
of a few generations, the most marked characteristics of the races I am 
describing, will have been effaced for ever. It is marvellous with what 
firmness old prejudices are abandoned, old customs discarded, and even 
tastes changed, when they become Christians ; and there is now a wide- 
spread feeling amongst the Kols themselves, that this change will 
inevitably come upon them all. 

The Moondah-Oraon are a rapidly increasing people. "We may 
form some calculation as to the rate of increase by the statistics of the 
Mission. In 1864, the baptised converts numbered 5,923, and in that 
year there were 195 births to 80 deaths. In 1865 there were 7,828 
baptized Christians, and the births during the year were 309 to 86 
deaths. The number of professing Christians is probably double the 
number registered as baptized. I subjoin in a tabular form brief 
vocabularies of the Moondahs and their cognates, referring to Tickell's 
memoir for a full notice of the language. I annex notes on the Oraon 
language with which I have been kindly favoured by the Reverend 
Frederic Batsch. 



APPENDICES. 



APPENDIX A. 



List of ivords and phrases to he noted and used as test words for the 
discovery of the radical affinities of languages, and for easy 
comparison. 

Numerals. One to ten. Twenty. Fifty. Hundred. 
Pronouns. I. Of me. Mine. 



We. 


Of US Onr 




Thou. 


Of thee Thinp 




You. 


Of you. Your. 




He. 


Of him. His. 




They. 


Of them. Their. 




Hand. 


Father. 


Sun. 


Foot. 


Mother. 


Moon. 


Nose. 


Brother. 


Star. 


Eye. 


Sister. 


Fire. 


Mouth. 


Man. 


Water. 


Tooth. 


Woman. 


House. 


Ear. 


Wife. 


Horse. 


Hair. 


Child. 


Cow. 


Head. 


Son. 


Dog, 


Tongue. 


Daughter. 


Cat. 


Belly. 


Slave. 


Cock. 


Back. 


Cultivator. 


Duck. 


Iron. 


Shepherd. 


Ass. 


Gold. 


God. 


Camel. 


Silver. 


Devil. 


Bird. 


Go. 


Come. 


Die. 


Eat. 


Beat. 


Give. 


Sit. 


Stand. 


Run. 



202 



Appendix A. 



Up down 

near far 

who what 

and but 

yes no 

A Father. Two Fathers. 
Of a father. 
To a father. 
From a father. 

A daughter. Two daughters. 
Of a daughter. 
To a daughter. 
From a daughter. 



before 
behind 
why 
if 

alas. 

Fathers. 
Of fathers. 
To fathers. 
From fathers. 

Daughters. 
Of daughters. 
To daughters. 
From daughters. 



A good man. Two good men. Grood men. 



Of a good man. 
To a good man. 
From a good man. 

A good woman. 
A bad boy. 

good 
high 



better 
higher 



Of good men. 
To good men. 
From good men. 

Good women. 
A bad girl. 

best 
highest 



a horse 


a mare horses 


mares 


a bull 


a cow bulls 


cows 


a dog 


a bitch dogs 


bitches 


a he-goat 


a female goat 


goats 


a male deer 


a female deer 


deer. 


I am 


Thou art 


He is. 


We are 


You are 


They are. 


I was 


Thou wast 


He was. 


We were 


You were 


They were 


Be. 


To be. Being. 


Having been. 


I may be. 


I shall be. 


I should be. 



Appendix A. 203 



Beat. 


To beat. Beating. 


Having beaten. 


I beat. 


Thou beatest. 


He beats. 


We beat. 


You beat. 


They beat. 


I am beating. 


I was beating. 


I had beaten. 


I may beat. 


I shall beat. 


I should beat. 


I am beaten. 


I was beaten. 


I shall be beaten. 


I go. 


Thou goest. 


He goes. 


I went. 


Thou wentest. 


He went. 


Go. 


Going. 


Gone. 



What is your name ? 

How old is this horse ? 

How far is it from here to Kashmir ? 

How many sons are there in your father's house ? 

I have walked a long way to-day. 

The son of my uncle is married to her sister. 

In the house is the saddle of the white horse. 

Put the saddle upon his back. 

I have beaten his son with many stripes. 

He is grazing cattle on the top of the hill. 

He is sitting on a horse under that tree. 

His brother is taller than his sister. 

The price of that is two rupees and a half. 

My father lives in that small house. 

Give this rupee to him. 

Take those rupees from him. 

Beat him well and bind him with ropes. 

Draw water from the well. 

Walk before me. 

Whose boy comes behind you ? 

From whom did you buy that ? 

From a shop-keeper of the village. 



204 



Appendix B. 



• r-4 0> 

-1-3 CO 

d a> 

rd 



§ IP* 
•2 O si 

CO 50 



c3 O 



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d 



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K^r=4 -4-> 



bo d 
d 2 -d 

03 d ^2 



44 >5 



d m 



• pM ^ f3 



n3 bo bo o 



CS 03 

Pi rd rd 

bCri4 



a 



o3 o3 

"3 d :d 

g d d 

dn a 5 



.H >o3 bo 



jTj 



bDJS 



S3 ^ 

o3 c3 

d oS 
o 



d 03 



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03 H 



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o3 bD 



60 _ 

4 §'3 



1 § § 

d f-i d 



£3 

rt rd £ 

2 03 03 

d co co 



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d ^ 

03 

O o 

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^^^^ d 
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flo3o3 03 03 O Ph dd 



i-5 



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d £ rd 
OH H 



f=H S GQ 



Sd 2 . 



d 

o 

rd © 



Appendix B. 



205 



* : k a 



^ a a J a a 



f.a es 



CO r-H rH 



o o 2 b 



o 



03 .r-l 
« r^ 



bo a ? 

PI S3 .rH 



rH r^ 



rP ft 

03 ►>> 



f J I 

o o 

rd S rP 

44 rP r*i 



P eg 



03 cS 



r^rQrOrH 



o o o 

feD feO 
S fl 

CS Ol O 
SDrS r3 



o3 CD O 

44 



o 
a 

rP 

44 



o 

O 

4=1 



44 



03 * 
ft o3 



c3 115 c3 

&Dd 2 £ ft 44 £ ~£ ^ ^r^O^ 

flSS " ftrH S « ri <-J 03 r-j ft O Cj k P 



^44^ Ig.rH £ ft 44 .M"|"§ 

^.a g .^l.a ^ i^g aJa 







or awar 


























nam 


nma 








| 1^ 
a".. 




t> 

CD 
44 
SH 
O 




r kavi 





44 
S* 

44 




aya 
male 




Sh 


u 




■rH 















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W Sh 


O 

a 


O 
:p3 

CO 


o3 

rQ 

03 

co 


iL 


44 

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03 
Ph 




o3 


aik 

appi 

ank 


'c3 


EfS ® 




tala 





O § 


CD 


o3 


o3 


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a 


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44 




ft44 


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a _ h ^ a 

rH rt o3 c3 03 o3 

53 -a £ a a >■ 

rH c3 CD .S 03 



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■ rH PS 
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o3 c3 03 

r> ft44 



21 

o3 03 



•gl Si- 
rH EH ^HW 



o 
rH 



1 ° 8. 



11, * 



Sh 

rrH » 2 

« 3^ a 

CD tg O 03 



206 



Appendix B, 



°8 . 

oS 03 

5-4 rd 

O 03 

-•I 

d 



h3 



S3 

Pi r3 



.2 io3 >ce 

3 sa 



o 



a 1 o - 

to d rd £ 



Jd ^ O 
o o ,_d 

d i-y 03 



bJD 

la 



o 

I 

f-l 
o 

S 03^ 
d £ ^ 



eg 

d 03 



o 



te U O 



% o3 © 
O co go 



.5 rd ft £ 

00 O O 0Q r^J O 



I 

r!3 03 



d 

°s ^ d 

c3 o3 03 «rn o3 d 

O CO CO r^d 50 



03 j-j 

:d ^ 



rd 



o ,d 

• r-j 03 03 
r*4 



£ S3 



d 

o _ 

^ bJD 

o3 d 



d d d 



S d 
S d 



ft'§ 



d 

ri O fH 
d^ ^ 



03 03 
O O o 



Appendix C. 



207 



A 



o 

" I 

m n ^ 



.H 

co 

ft o 



yr^ O CO 

CO fl r t3 



5 o 



2 ^ 



r±4 O 



+3 r£ 

CO CO 



> 02 

co co 



ftg 



• M _M O :|3 CD ±3 

rQ5 Hd CO 



• rH N ^ 

^ 13 ^ 
^ 2 S 

o ^ o £ 



r>T> © >a 



\CD cc 



cS £ co 

O ft 02 



<4-H CO rQ 

iS c6 cj 



CO 

CO g 
J ft^ 



g s S 



co 

"co £3 cd 

SS2 



3 a 



s_, CO 



v© t3 -P 



g co 
co <3 
ft m 



ftr^J 

Cj CO 

co co 



S3 co 

t> CO 

co 03 
P3 



CO 

i> ft CO 



co 

CO CO 

a a 



bo 



© 



© 

© o 2 g 
O Eh En ^ 02 



O -H ,-H CD 



S>* © 
-+J r-i 



208 



Appendix G. 



© 

1 



eg 

So 



O bp g 

O |S (P 



02 rd 

cS O 



o © o 



c8 c5 

© © 

Q3 © <D 

/© ,£3 ^ 

O O O 



B B B 

ci c« cS 

rd rCJ 



C3 
44 



a a 



- eg 



c3 c3 

44 r±4 

'® d i 
£ d B 



I 



•P-l 

B 

B'^ 



d .3 



d d 

© © 

CO CO 



05 

d 



d .-4 

:d 5 



11J 



c3 O 
S S OS 



o © 
O O 



eS d cS 

s p a 

^ d 
rd T rd 

CO • rH CO 



O g 

d <? 



-a 
a ° 

tfj d 

co o3 ^cc 
*c8 »m *S 




© o3 



c3 
■ J> 

rH 44 

|aa 

d d d 

t>> t>» ^ 



eg _ 
^ S? 

id ^ 

T3 xrx 
fl3 cS o3 



w ICS 
co ^ 
© © c« 



CO -U -+J -+J -rt 



d 



© 53 g 



§3 § 

£53 



03 



. © 

^ £ _§ 



Appendix C. 



209 



© 

Mil 

ft 3 a 



grid 
§ ^ I 



68 3 

Jsd ^ - 

44 © 
i— T „rQ 

£ H S 



c8 

ftg 



03 
© 

a 2 

O CD 



44 03 



c3 P 3 



o3 o3 io3 £ 

»£l ft fl 10 



8 g g 



«8 .H ^ 

pQ CG ^! 



© o3 pCj 



d 

c3 ^ © 

03 CD 

_T O Q 

oS O O 

pQ ft ft 



?H fcC pd CD r-H 

$^■.0 bD CD V P 

CD e3 pQ b£> 03 ""3 44 



vcc3 44 

pQ r@ pQ o3 44 44 



<r* TO , ^ 



44 . 

© O 44 



© S 

© 

»^ d Cg 

© o3 

c3 © _£4 

ftpQ O 



03 T5 rj 

© c3 O 
^ 50 



L M OS 

CD ^ 1 1 

ft S rd 



03 

d :0 



a 

S3 ■ ^ rd 

OS & ° 

=d ftHd 



vc3 <P 

« 03 ^ « 

g 7 'Ed _S 

c3 c3 vc6 ^5 

^3 ft O 



oS oS 



03 

rd _ 

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00 03 5 



^ ^ 

f-i o3 

ft q pQ cc 



•a ^ 

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42 ^ 
a a 
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h5 O o 



o >^ 



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© 
be 



O o c3 03 © q 



p g © 

ri f-M ^ © 



03 



_1 

n pi 

rd O * 



210 



Appendix C, 



Panjabee. 


sooraj 
chand 
tara 

ag 

jul, panee 
bhomeen 

kath 
ghur 
ghoda 

gou, goru 

kootha 

billee 

muchee, mas 

peethe da 
peethe nu 
peethe, te 


Hindee. 


suraj 

chand 

tara 

ag 

jul, panee 
prithwi, matee 

lakri, kath 

ghur 

ghora 

gai 

kootha 

billee 

muchee 

pitee ka 
pithee ko 
pithee se 


Turkish. 


ghunesh 
ay 

yildiz 

atash 
soo 

toprak 

ev 
at 

inek 
kiipek 
kedi 
baliik 

babaniin 
babayah 
babadan 


Persian. 

- 


aftab 
mah 
sitara 

atash 
ab 

zameen 

chob 

khana 

asp 

gao 
sug 

gurbah 
mahi 

i-pedr 

ba-pedr, pedr-ra 
az pedr 


Sanscrit. 


surya 
chandra 
naxatra, taraka 

agni 
apa, jala 

prithwi, mrittika 

gahan, kashtha 
griha 

ghotaka, aswa 

gabhi, go 
kukkura, swan 
bidala 
matsya 

pituh 

pitaram 

pituh 


English. 


Sun 

Moon 

Star 

Eire 

Water 

Earth 

Wood 
House 
Horse 

Cow 
Dog 
Cat 
Eish 

Of a father 
To a father 
From a father 



Appendix C. 



211 




:3 



c3 
£ 



:!=S 

C3 £ 



;§ S i§ 

o oo 



:pi ,3 

fH SO 5-1 
£ £ £ 

OO o 



S a ^ ^ s ^ 

13 : ^ 2 s3 =3 

"2 ^ "2 ^ ^ ^ 

pi 



3 IS 
o 3 



3 3 :!i 

o o o 



r _ ps 

™ i ^ 



-8 

o 



o o 
o c 



13 



5 



05 3 3D 

is- 3 

S 3 cj 

S "3 3 



S3 

O 05 

o n 

rQ o o 
o o 

§ pf 05 

S 43 o 



-s 8 
a pi 



g a ^ s ^ ^3 

C3 C3 GQ OQ GO S 



c3 > £ 



c3 
| 

* > 5 



s3 S 

E pi 



OQ 3D 



5 




1 






filth 


05 


a 


o 
o 
be 


C5 

a 






o 


o 


o 




o3 


o 






rH 






EH 





! t 



£^EH 



1 § * 
m EH M 



^ ^ EH 



212 



Appendix G, 



© 

-8 
•a 3 

o3 

Ph 



ce © 
o o o 

r4 rP rP 



eg 

eg bo 

bo 

o o 



1 

•I a a 

S5 o 



c3 © 

S3 44 

5-1 5- 5-H 

o3 o3 o3 

a a a 



S o8 

O bO 

o3 O 

5-< 5h 

c3 o3 



© 

44 

o 

03 03 

S 44 

o o o 

4P rP rCj 



03 

c3 bp 
bJO Pi 
o o 

rd ^ 



© 



o 

03 

a 



a a 



o3 o3 

PS 44 

5-< 5h 

o3 03 



a a 



o3 :CS 

a a 



of a 

"© O 



a I 

5h 5-1 

2 ps 



?p3 

» :§ o3 

:p co , — i 

5-j 5-< 5-1 

:pS :p3 :PS 

H H 

PJ P3 P3 

£ £ £ 



^3 :pS 
Pi Pi 



p5 p! pS 
£ £ fS 



3 I 



Pi 45 

o3 o3 
rd n3 

co O O 
o3 O O 

rfl 



s ° 

£J 
§ 1 

03 o3 

rC rP 

o3 o3 

44 44 

Pi Pi 

03 03 

a a 



a 

03 

Tj © 

_ 03 o3 
Pi N tS3 

I s 



a -si 



ps S 

03 g 
PJ 43 

P3 QQ 



a 



03 03 d 

M A 



a I 

03 >^ 

b^3 
Is V 

i> o3 
03 ^ 

03 



3 C£ 

P3 Pj 

a a J 

03 o3 ^ 

rf3 ^ 03 

C3 02 



cS . 

a s 

03 03 ■+= 
03 

o3 P q 



o 
o 

© o3 o3 



_r; S -+-3 
^ o3 o3 



Pi ^ 

PJ 03 
o3 N 

"8 a 

II 

Pi Pi 

o3 03 

a a 



I 

c3 >-> 

S ^ 

a a 

o3 03 

r& rd 

c3 o3 



b£> 
Pi 



© O 08 



© ■ 

pd ^ 

03 O 
^P rd 

GO GO 



© O 

-° ^ 



■+i 03 CU 
2? ■© rQ 



© 

bo 



© O =8 

Ph Eh W 



Appendix G. 



213 



c3 

d 



rd ftrd 



C3 

£2 

rd 03 



03 

ll 

d 



03 

n 



CD CD 

bo bJO 
03 03 



p/oq s s s 



^ ^ ^ 
» » 

£ W 08* 



c3 
Ph 

cd 



V 4J ^ 



f_, o o3 
jd rd 

rd ^ 



rj S a 
^ O 03 



d v 2 

03 CD 

S a 



CD CD 

rd rd 

S3 

c3 03 

rd rd 



"fl rd 



CD 



pd 03 03 



O 03 

d ^ 



a a 



o § 

rO C3 



o3 ^3 



I- 



d o 
d ^ 



o3 03 

£ £ 



c3 d- d' 

a a a 



_j v oS ^D 

d g f-i 

O > CS 



d 

£ rd 



° ^d i-d rr, 

> h3 2 03 

03 c3 d rd 



CO 

rd ki 

^ .3 — < 

02 Ph'S 



cS c3 

d S £ 

N N N 



d d d 

d s a 

d N tS3 



be 
d 



CD 

CD o £ 

d ,d 
O EH H 



3 ® 

r^t OQ 



d 

CD rd CD 



CD 

a o 



d 50 



f £1 

E?SW h5S ^oo 



214 



Appendix C. 



-3 
to 
3 



c3 
ft 



s 3 

•rH G3 

f- © 

O rj 



3 



<D © 

^ 

Cj Cj Cj 

CO CO CQ 



© © 

be bo 
© © © 

r& 3= ^ 

sss 

3 3 3 



bo b 
cS cS cj 
!>> fc^ >, 
103 io3 103 



© © 
bo bO 
© © 
3 3 

C3 cs 



C3 

© 

^,3 

O ej cj 

r3 ft S3 



n — -- 

^3 -T3 



9 

si S 
o © 



o 

3 3 

© © 
33 r3 
• rH T-l 

a a 



o 

B B 

© © 

r3 r3 

v £ '3 

S3 3 



£ is J 3 5 

3! bo 3 IS 



3i 



pi a 

C3 pi 

Ej O © 
5 35 ^ 

+s © +3 



05 cj d 



^ O cs 

C5 34 3 



rEj 

S3 

d 



as T3 



g3 

3 3 



e3 eg 



c§ c3 c3 

bo bo bo 
© <© <© 

CO CO CO 



© ice us 
.fep.bx^bp 

"cO *co co 



a? I* co 
(3 S cj 



£ O 
C5 



-*J ~ CO +J 'Tj K 



68 2 

eg bo bo 

cl "s 03 

bo^^ 

<3 03 C3 

rJ3 nr! T3 



o o 

3* ~ ~ I — I ft 02 



If 



3 r« ® 

o ^ .a 

33 ^ 

HOB 



§ 

3 ^£ 
o ^ o 
^0>i 



a 

© 

© ^ © 

33 3 , J" 

bob W £ £ 



3 o co 
* 8 o 



^33 

S^B 



Appendix C. 



215 



B % 

o 

O 



to cd r-r; ,-Cj 



e3 



„ to 
03 to 



© 

CD 

S3 



CD 

CD © 



^ CD 



1 g,^ 



II 



c3 



© g 

CD § 03 

III 



• rH £ ° 



ft 



pi 

o 
-+■3 

d SJl « 
3 o S 

M « TO 



3 pi 



r-© 

vcd O c3 

,Q TO rQ 



.3 pa 



\o \© 

CD O 



. TO 

>g © '3 .-s 

! CD -+J to ft ft 



r-< & 



pa 2 ^ rO 



r© 

pa ^ 

>-> TO 

pa pa 

-§ a 

a ■ 



TO 

IS3 r<2 



Pi 

O 
CD 

^ CD 



O 

pa 



io3 

pa 

M 

TO -4-3 



Pi 

•M CS 03 

n hi — i 

TO rO 



c3 

to Pi 

5/2 CO 



to Pi o 

Pa O 
TO TO 



ft S pi ^ 



to pa 

CD N L£j 

& s U 



1 — I © 

TO KJ 
r© 



© © 



© 

si 

CD 



fell - 

o g - 



ra 

- © ^ 



^ Pi ^ 

r^H © ^ 



pa 

s=! 2 =3 

3 © o3 

Pi ^ +3 



216 



Appendix C. 



bo 
• 5 



© 

t» 35 U 

bO 03 bO 



© 
© 

o3 IS 
cS o3 

r^ 



&0 

03 © 

bo;d bO 

c3 ci c3 

rd rd rd 

-U -*J 

d c5 cS 

rd rd 



^>rd 

o3 

o3 H 
rd S 

-t-3 d 



c3 d 

.a .a 
a a 

03 © 

rd pfl 



'3 

•i— i 

§ a 

d <» 
© rd 



""d rd 

d d ^5 d 
o o o 
dd rd 



o3 
© 



o3 

rn 5-1 5-i 

d4 bO bO bO 



o3 

5- od 

03 r-H rj 

d4 F 3 © 

d -d C« 

d4 d d 



rS* 

VCS VG3 

d r-Q 
r^ r^ 



d 

d^ 
. \C3 .r-l 

fl 



•a a 



a 



d 

© 

rd 



g a 

' S - rd 9 

© d 



d 



CP 



dj § 



03 
© 

e 5h fj o 

bX) o3 :d O 

03 bo bo bo 



o 
o 

rd d2 



r-l 

© 



to 



rd 



el a 

d 5 © 



a s 

d 



r±4 d 

© £S3 



2 B 

a d o3 

03 bo bo 



r§ 



5 I 

.52 « 

os ^ 

a n 

4s a 



| M * 

^ O -a, rfj 

Od ^ &D 



rVg 



Ifi 



£8 

E J 

^ o3 5h 

03 s s 

■xs & d 



03 ^ 
Ph rd 
03 

o3 03 

rC £ 



bo 
d 



§ § 1 1 

^ ffi fjj o 



© © 

d3 rd 



o3 03 a 

OH 



© 

CO 

S3 

rd , 

03 03 

PQ 



d 

© 

a a 

o3 S 

a ^ 

o bo 

5? 



Appendix G. 



217 



fi >~> to 



3 M 

2 pi 

O rQ 

I a 

rQ -+J 



OS 

\CD CD 
rQ rQ 



1^ a 

cj O .5 
\cS +j -u 



o3 oS 

50 

go rQ 

q o 



-4-> 00 



03 



CD 

® &0 



50 co 
f3 GO 

Q CD 



CD O 
rJ4 42 



/© 
rd 



£ CD J 
2 cS £ 

-+a rQ 



63 



o 



03 - 
>-Q 



9 © 3 
s s S 

tS3 4J rQ 



£ «D > 
«D ^ 

S>*ja 

I 1 I 



r*» 

-a 

rQ 

Q 



OPQPQ 



So 

03 ^ CD 



O rQ 



50 



Q 

O rQ 



CD 

CD 

rQ 

bo 
cd Q 

rQ'£ 



CD 

rQ 



c3 O 

rQ rQ 

GO GO 



w K r— I w (_> ™ t« 

W PQhM hh 



218 



Appendix C. 



s 



Singalese. 


mamey ghahanown 

gahapan 
gahande 

mumey gahanwa 
mumey gahanowa 


Khas of Nepal. 






Cashmeree. 


boh layan chus 
tsu layan chuk 
su layan chu 

aass layan che 
tohi layan chewak 
tim layan che 

layan or maron 
layan 

asmat layan 

boh layan asus 
boh yats layan 


Aboriginal 
Caucasian. 


ei veeyansam 
tu veeyansis 
siga veeyansi 

veeyans 


00 CO 

: § § 

CO CD 
CD CD 
f> > 

*CD *0> 


6 
o 
+s 

CO 


g c3 £ 3 ^ £ t § g S S 



CD O 

i-hH 



1i 

.8* 



CD 

CD O * 



CD 

^5 ^ 



Appendix 0, 



219 





-2 


ek 
be 

tran, ton 


ill 


3 41 II 


j 

iti 




— (Continued.) 




-slj 


ill 


-Is II 


,11 


iff 


i 
>- 


! 


ill 


itl 




Itl 


ambhay 
ambhor 
ambhor 


Comparative 






111 




Is 
111 


if! 




I 


III 


r=i N QQ 









220 



Appendix C. 



>o3 

% fH 5H fl. stf 

ftftft -3 ^ 

Cw TO Cv -4-3 



?-l 'r-H 

ass § § 

O O O O <D O 



2 !=* 

8 8 § ^ >*■ 

-4J -+J +J 



IPS 

PS 




CO 



o 

^ *~ ^ 

BOH 



O ej-l O 



<X> <:+_, «r-l 



rfl =+-( r^H , °J Q O 

BOH 







Appendix G. 




221 








2 












'o 


on 




111 J 


pi 


bap 
mah 
bhai 
ben 


p-< ^ 
on *S S 


bacbchh 

dikro 

dikre 


suraj 

chand 

tara 














OtS _ 
r3 -S 44 


kes 

doka, sir 
jibh 


bap 
mai, ai 

bahin 


S3 vtf 

d 44 44 

^ 'o "o 

S^4^ 


santali, leki 
loyk, putro 
lyek. 


suriyo. 

chandra 

lakshtra 


alls 


O ,_Q 

42 S 


bapo 

ma 

bhai 

bhownee 


minipo 

maikinya 

mipo 


chha, pila 
poo-o 


soorjyo 
chando 
tora 


44 +2 ^ 
o ^ d 


en £ 


vcs v 5 ^ o 

4 


MS3 M 
CO ^ ^ 

S >> ^3 
vtf vtf vcd 


santan 

chhelya 

maya 


* d « 

d 43 vss 

CO O -4-3 


Eye 
Mouth 
Tooth 
Ear 


Hair 
Head 
Tongue 


Father 
Mother 
Brother 
Sister 


Man 

Woman 

Wife 


Child 
Son 

Daughter 


Sun 

Moon 

Star 



222 



Appendix C. 



bo 



£ f-i f-* 



OX'S 



ft ft ft 

vss ^cc \03 

rO rO ,22 



pQ 

ft >03 




t3 

GO 
pO 



S3 v(S 
if 



03 



>c3 



cs ft ft ^ bfj bD 



5>JDp^ a S 



vCu \CC) v S 
ft ft ft 
MS vCu \<S 
rQ rQ rQ 



9^ ft 

ft^ vs 

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bCr^ pQ S 



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pQ 



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Appendix G. 



223 



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III 

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UrC DO 



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to g H 

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GO 



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rd CD e3 



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II 



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rd 

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51 



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224 



Appendix C. 



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HO* 



Appendix D. 



225 



APPENDIX D. 



Kashmiree Vocabulary and Grammatical Forms. 

In consequence of recent discussions in the Society, Mr. L. Bowring, 
Commissioner of Mysore, was kind enough to let me know that he had 
many years ago compiled and sent to the Society a Kashmiree Voca- 
bulary. The result has been the discovery of a paper as valuable as 
the hereditary reputation of the author would lead us to expect, which 
the Society now loses no time in publishing, and which it has been 
thought well to put in this place in connection with our Ethnological in- 
quiries. Mr. Bowring's paper gives us a far fuller and better knowledge 
of the Kashmiree language than anything that we have yet had. The 
Vocabularies are very full, exact, and well arranged, and the grammati- 
cal forms of the verb especially are very fully set forth. It is only neces- 
sary (treating the matter ethnologically) to observe that since Persian 
has been for several hundred years the language of Government, 
religion and literature in Kashmir, and there has also been a long 
connection with Hindustan and the Punjab, a vast number of Persian 
words and phrases, and some Hindustanee and Punjabee expressions 
have necessarily incorporated themselves in the modern Kashmiree, 
especially as spoken by the better classes. In fact, that wonderful 
language Persian infuses itself wherever it comes in contact, and it 
abounds in Kashmiree just as in the upper class Hindustanee and in fact 
in Turkish also. Hence a faithful specimen of the Kashmiree of the 
present day will be found to contain many foreign words. But they 
are easily distinguishable, still wearing their foreign dress and little 
adapted to the native forms ; and for the most part such words need 
not be confounded with original native words in such a way as to 
mislead us regarding the radical affinities of the language. 

I have taken the liberty of omitting from Mr. Bowring's vocabularies 
a few evidently Persian words of a literary, and for the most part com- 
pound character, as I thought that these would not serve our present 
purpose. Some remain as now part of the ordinary vulgar tongue, 
but looking both to the vocables and to the grammar, I think it will 
be found that Kashmiree is certainly allied to the Indian languages 
rather than to the Persian. 



226 Appendix D. 

Mr. Bowringhas, perhaps, in the examples which he has given, put 
the declension of the noun rather too simply. He has used the unin- 
fected Indian form ' Manush' for man and the Persian word 1 Zananah' 
for woman. He shows, however, that most Kashmiree nouns are in- 
flected to form the plural, and I think it will be found that almost all 
real Kashmiree nouns are inflected for cases also. Both my own 
observations and those of Messrs. Edge worth and Leech, as well as Mr. 
Bowring's dialogues give the proper Kashmiree form for man 
' Mohnyn,' plural ' Mohnivi.' And the following which I take from 
Leech is, I believe, the true declension of the Kashmiree noun 1 Nichu, ' 
a son. 

A son, nichu Sons, nichivi. 

Of a son, nichivi-sand Of sons, nichiven-sand. 

To a son, nichivis To sons, nichiven. 

From a son, nichinishi From sons, nichiven-nishi. 

With respect to the variations of the genitive case, Mr. Edgeworth 
seems to differ from Mr. Bo wring, saying that the genitive affix is, 
like Hindustanee, governed in point of gender by the noun which fol- 
lows rather than by that which precedes it. So far as I could make 
out from cursory inquiry on the spot, it seemed to me that in fact the 
form of this affix is affected by both the preceding and the following 
nouns. Indeed it seems to have the most extraordinary chameleon- 
like variety of shapes, according to the positions in which the words 
are placed, and the only conclusion of my inquiries was, that the rules 
of Kashmiree declension are so complicated, that nothing but careful 
and scientific study will reduce them to shape. 

It may be added that feminines are formed from masculines by 
inflections, as — ■ 

Masculine. Feminine. 
G-ur, horse. guir, mare. 

Kokur, cock, kokair, hen. 

Tsawal, he goat, tsavij, she goat. 

Batak, drake, batich, duck. 

Kav, male crow, kavin, female crow. 

The language is evidently altogether subject to very many post- 
inflections, and abounds in affixes and postpositions. 

G-. Campbell, 



Appendix D. 



227 



Vocabulary of the Kashmiri Language. — By L. Bowring, Esq., 

Commissioner of Mysore. 

The following vocabulary was prepared in Kashmiri in 1851, after 
comparison with another copy in Urdu. 

It may be observed of the Kashmiri that the pronunciation of the 
letter 6 is very broad, resembling the aw in awful, as for instance ' mol,' 
father, read ' mawl.' The language also affects the compound letter 
ts in lieu of ' ch,' as 'tsor,' four. 

The formation of the plurals of substantives is irregular, but they 
generally take the affixes ' cha' and 1 chi. 1 The genitive of substan- 
tives takes its gender from the noun preceding, not from that fol- 
lowing as in Urdu. 

The particle <y is not used with verbs. The great number of Sans- 
krit words existing in Kashmiri is evident, but there are many words 
peculiar to the language. The character is generally written with 
Persian letters, but a form of Nagri is also in use. 





Substantives. 




Aii- 


akash 


Boat 


nau, shikari 


Apple 


tsunt 


Brick 


sir 


Ass 


khar 


Book 


puth 


Arm 


nar 


Buffalo 


moesh 


Army 


fauj 


Bread 


tsut 


Age 


bujar 


Breast 


vachh 


Assistance 


yari 


Badness 


yach 


Answer 


uttar 


Beard 


dor 


Arrow 


tir 


Bone 


adij 


Abuse 


lek 


Bill 


tont 


Bird 


pak 


Breath 


shah 


Brother 


boi 


Brass 


sartal 


Boy 


lokat 


Business 


kdm 


Branch 


lang 


Basket 


phut, dak 


Barley 


ushak 


Bush 


kradzal 


Butter 


thain 


Blood 


rath 


Blackberry 


bar 


Bag 


thil 


Birth 


parsun 


Bow 


kaman 


Bridge 


kadul 


Blow 


chdk 



228 



Appendix D. 



Butterfly 


didar 


iipppi+ 

JL/COCXt 


bram 




san 


1 1 O V 17"Y\ aaa 

-L/cll JiUcoo 


gath 


Bee 


tilar 


1 1 to o yyi 

JL/ifcJclLli 


sup an 


Child 


halak 


-L'cllXii CX 


khatar 


Cucumber 


lor 


Drop 


phiur 


Cherry 


gldb 


Dram 


henur 


CI nth p«! 


kapar 


-L/cixx^c 


nagmah 


Citv 


shahr 


J2iai in 


zamin 


l! ayiyipi* 


tram 


JliicpixdlH; 


hasth 


Cow 


era r» 




+Tia1 
T/UOx 


Cat 


bariir 




uchh 


Camel 


unth 


Ear 


kan 


Chin 


J 1U 1 1 cl L1X 




Tin Til o ri 


Coat 


faran 


Evil 


yach 


Cpilino |s 


talau. 




buth 


Cotton 


kapas 


East 


pur 


tin PAS A 


f>Ti ^ 1TI Q n 
vXXclXXXctXx 


JJiXUUYV 


khon 


Claim 


daw a 


XLiiicxii y 


shitar 


Corner 


kon 


-Xil ACX LXUX1 


talash 


Colour 


rang 


TTivp 
JD XlfcJ 


tungulj nartun- 


v;iiebnuu 


bun 


jd atner 


mol, bab 


p f 1 a v 


a'paa'ai* 


h MOV 111 1 OTTT 

X 1 <iLXXt;l-llX-IclW 


zamtur 


Carrot 




Fruit 


xxxc VVall 


Cloud 


ahar 


rvl awp v 

X 1U W OX 


posh 


CrOSsTlPflTil 
vy X WOO AJ Oct XXL 


VXXd>l>XXdX 


FIativ 


At- 


Chair 


sandal 


Jd OWl 


kukkur 




mur 


J OX 


patslo 


Chalk 


siap 


X 1 IblX 


gad 




soyet 


Frog 


ninimondij 


Dav 


diih 


Food 


Vat 


TlPW 

J-'CVV 


DXXcl UXXctLLX 


TTiplrl 

a? xoxii 


khyeti 


Daughter 


kur 


Foot 


khor 


Death 


mar an 


Forehead 


dek 


Dog 


hun 


Fear 


bay! 


Deer 


loh, rus 


Flesh 


shun 


Puck 


battuk 


Firebasket 


kangar 


Dirt 


mal 


Foreigner 


biskahru 



1 



Appendix D. 



Fraud 


dagha 


Hand 


ath 


Face 


but 


Height 


thazar 


Feather 


par 


Heap 


der, anbar 


Fever 


tap 


Hunger 


buchi 


Fireplace 


bukhari 


Health 


balan 


Friend 


rnitar 


Hedge 


var 


Family 


shirbots 


Hoof 


padur 


Feny 


ghat 


Honey 


mach 


Finger 


anguj 


Horn 


hiang 


Fisher 


gadhanj 


Hour 


gar 


Fist 


musht 


Hemp 


bang 


Funeral-pile 


chenta 


Ice 


yak 


Flea 


pish 


Insect 


kim 


Fly 


mach 


Iron 


shistar 


God 


de 


Indian corn 


makhai ■ 


Girl 


lokat kiir 


Interest 


sudh 


Grass 


gas 


Interference 


hhalsl } toth 


Gram 


ckhola 


Ink 


mil 


Garlic 


ruhan 


J uice 


ras 


Gold 


son 


Jest 


thatha 


Goat 


tsawij, tsawul 


Jackal 


shal 


Goose 


ans 


Knife 


srak 


Grain 


anaj 


Leaf 


barak 


Garden 


bagh 


Leg 


lang 


Goodness 


jan 


Lip 


uth 


Greatness 


bajar 


Length 


zechar 


Grape 


dach 


Lie 


apuz 


Groom 


sais 


Life 


umar 


Game 


gindun 


Light 


gash 


Girth 


tang 


Letter 


achar, harf 


Husband 


run 


Linseed 


alish 


Hail 


dot 


Lime 


chunah 


House 


garh, lur 


Liver 


jigar 


Horse 


gur 


Lock 


kuluf 


Head 


kalah 


Load 


bar 


Hair 


wal 


Log 


hat 


Heart 


vandah 


Lizard 


hadzung 



230 



Appendix D. 



Moon 


ztin 


Xi clK 


gardan 


Mountain 


koh navvflt 

iVUJUj X-/CVX V till 


in eeclie 


suzan 


Mist 


vnnav 

V Lillet! 


JNest 


61 


Month 


riat 


Noise 


shor, kraknad 


Morning 


subah, prabat 


UII1 Ucl 


ganzrun 


Midday 


d onaTiar 


in ettle 


swai 


Man 


manushj mohnu 


xn ei 


zal 


Mother 


moi 

XXXI./J 


J> 01 tn 


vutar 


Mushroom 


hedar 


Onion 


paran 


Marriage 


khandar 


nil 


til 


Mosque 


mashid 


Onv 
KJdl 


kur, chapa 


Money 


nakd 


f\ „ xT. 

Uatn 


dri 


Mule 


katir 


Pumpkin 


alan 


Month 


Aa 


"T> _ „ 

.rear 


tank 


JL' JL V_/ KXiD Klvllv 


or All on 


Cartridge 


tsar 




111111 uu 


Jrearl 


mukt 


Medicine 


dawa 


People 


lok 


Milk 


dddh 


Pla+f 

jridLiei 


tnal 


Molasses 


jyor 
gvx 


x am 


i > i 
dod 


Manure 


pah 


Price 


mol 


Minute 


laza. r>al 


x air 


jora 


Market 


koth 


Poplar 


iarast 


Mat 


va£ni 


Piece 


tukra 


Mine 


kan 


.Teg 


mekh 


INT An Ttpv 
xtal/Iixvc y 


VallUUI 


Pepper 


marach 


MovtCfl P*P 


band 


Pace 


pur 


Miistavd 

JLTX U.O UCfcX 


asur 


Paper 


1 ' 7 

ka^/iaz 


Mint 


podin 


X (ill 


kalam 


Mn srmJto 


mah 


x mar 


tham 


Meteorite 


trath 


x 1110 W 


vatrun 


Mouse 


anmiir 


Pit 

X it 


Knau. 


Name 


nav 


xiougn 


alah 


Night 


rat 


Pole 




Nephew 


bapitar 


Power 


kowwat 


Niece 


bapitar beni 


Pocketpicking 


thappul 


Nose 


nast 


Question 


prachun 


Nail 


nam 


River 


darya 



Appendix D. 



Rain 


rud 


Rains 


barsat 


Rice 


tumal 


Raspberry 


chanchh 


Road 


vat 


Rat 


gagar 


Rump 


mandul 


Roof 


bain 


Relation 


rishta 


Rope 


raz 


Red pepper 


martsuwangan 


Rind 


diyal 


Rate 


mol 


Rein 


lakam 


Remedy- 


ilaj 


Ring 


voj 


Rose 


gulab 


Rust 


khai 


Sea 


samandar 


Sun 


aftab, sarfa 


Star 


tarak 


Snow 


shin 


Son 


nichd 


Sister 


hem 


Son-in-law 


hedr 


Spring 


behar 


Summer 


rathkol 


Stem 


mul 


Salt 


nun 


Strawberry 


kandachh 


Street 


dur, kocha 


Stone 


kain 


Silver 


chand 


Sheep 


gobh 


Snake 


sarp 


Shoulder 


phiiik 


Stomach 


yad 



Smallness 


shikaslad 


Strength 


zor 


Shadow 


sayah 


Shoe 


paizar 


Sleep 


nindar 


Skin 


cham 


Sound 


awaz 


Seed 


beul 


Sugar 


shakar 


Stick 


lur 


South 


duchan 


Shop 


van 


Sugarcane 


waishakar 


Staircase 


her 


Saddle 


zin 


Sorrow 


azab 


Sack 


gun 


Stool 


rayat, garusth 


Spider 


zallur 


Species 


kism 


Sand 


siak 


Saw 


lotar 


Scale 


trak, hayuk 


Screw 


pech 


Sheath 


kum 


Sheet 


chadar 


Shield 


sipar 


Side 


tarf 


Silk 


pot 


Sleeve 


niir 


Smoke 


duh 


Soap 


sabun 


Spot 


dagh 


Sting 


toph 


Scorpion 


bich 


Steel 


folad 


Straw 





232 



Appendix D. 



Sweat 


gum all 


CI , 

fetorm 


vaii 


Spoon 


choncha 


Thunder 


gagrai 


Tree 


kul 


Temple 


mandir 


Teeth 


dand 


longue 


jiau 


Thigh 


ran 


Truth 


puz 


Time 


vakt, vel 


1 hroat 


hut 


Turban 


dastar 


x nn st 


tresh 


lailK 


talau 


lea 


chain 


lail 


dumah 


J raae 


saudagari 


m 

Toe 


khorij anguj 


Tomato 


ruvangan 


Turnip 




rrn. i 

Thread 


pan 


Tent 


khema 


la ble 


mez 


Taste 


maza, swad 


Thorn 


kanth 


Theft 


tsiir 


Trust 


itimad, pats 


Uncle 


pitar, chacha 


Umbrella 


tabdan 


Udder 


than 


Urine 


mutr 


Use 


kam 



Venom 


zahar 


Velvet 


makhmal 


Vein 


rag 


Vice 


pap 


Village 


gam 


Water 


ab, pofi 


Wind 


hawa 


Woman 


zenanah 


Wife 


kolai 


Winter 


vand 


Wheat 


kanak 


Wood 


zun 


Wrist 


mats 


Width 


khajar 


Well 


chah, krur 


Weight 


toMn 


West 


pachum 


Washerman 


dub 


Watermelon 


hanclwand 


Wall 


dos 


Worm 


amkhium 


Whore 


hafiz 


Weed 


gas 


Wager 


dau 


Wax 


mom 


Wheel 


liagur 


Widow 


mond 


Wing 


par 


Wire 


tar 


Wool 


won 


Yard 


m 


Year 


varih 



Appendix D. 



233 



Declensions. 

manush 
manush-sund 
manush-is 
manush-nishin 

manash 
manash-sund 
nianash-is 
manash-nishin 

zenani 
zenani-hund 
zenani 

zenani-nishin 

zenanah 
zenanah-hund 
zenanah 
zenanah-nishin 



Examples of Plurals. 



Bern 


a sister 


Benicha 


sisters 


Boi 


a brother 


Bai 


brothers 


M61 


a father 


Mail 


fathers 


M6j 


a mother 


Maji 


mothers 


Nichu 


a son 


Nichii 


sons 


Kul 


a tree 


Kuil 


trees 


Barak 


a leaf 


Barakchi 


leaves 


Gram 


a village 


Gamchi 


villages 


Gas 


a grass 


Gascha 


grasses 


J an war 


an animal 


Janwarchi 


animals 




Adjectives, 




Active 


takra 


Blind 


Un 


Blunt 


mund 


Blue 


nidi 


Boiling 


tut, bahar 


Black 


karhun 


Broken 


phutmut 


Bitter 


tsok, cho" 



5S + 



I 
3 



f N. A man 
G. Of a man 
Acc. A man 
Ab. From a man 

N. Men 
G. Of men 
Acc* Men 
Ab. From men 

f N. A woman 
G. Of a woman 
Acc. A woman 
Ab. From a woman 

r N, Women 
G. Of women 
Acc. "Women 
Ab. From women 



234 



Appendix D. 



Bad 


yach 


Cheap 


sug 


Clever 


gatul 


Clear 


saf 


Coarse 


viut 


Crooked 


hul 


Cold 


turun 


Certain 


pats 


Deep 


sun 


Dear 


drug 


Dark 


anigut 


Deaf 


zur 


Dumb 


kul 


Dead 


mudmud 


Double 


zuh 


Dry 


huk 


Dirty 


malburut 


Drunk 


mut 


Easy 


is&a 


Empty 


&hali 


"171 i_ 

Expert 


tazil 


First 


pathium 


Former 


brontn 


Eat 


viut 


False 


apuz 


Frightened 


khochun 


Fine 


zayul 


Full 


barit 


Fond 


toth 


Good 


jan 


Great 


bod 


Glad 


khush 


Greedy 


lulachi 


Green 


sabz 


Generous 


datah 


General 


am 


High 


thud 



TT ] 

Mara 


dur 


Hungry 


buch 


TT 

Heavy 


gubh 


Hot 


garm, ushan 


111, bad 


yach 


Low 


past, tsut 


Long 


dsiut, khul 


T 'ill 

Little 


kam 


Less 


kehna 


Last 


brunthun 


Lame 


lung 


Leprous 


hitrilad 


Lazy 


sust 


Light 


lut 


Loose 


diyul 


Left 


hul 


Lower 


tal 


Many 


sitah 


Mad 


dewana 


Middle 


sum 


JNew 


no 


"VT 1 1 

Naked 


nathnun 


Old 


puron, budh 


Proud 


kibar 


Putrid 


dudriyomut 


Poor 


gharib 


Quick 


tikan 


Ready 


tayyar 


Right 


sind 


Ripe 


papiumud 


x> 

Raw 


kham 


a n 

Small 


luk 


bweet 


miut 


Stupid 


nadan 


Straight 


siud 


Square 


chankunjal 


Sharp 


tej 



Appendix D. 



225 



Slippery- 


pishul 


Weak liyad 


Thirsty 


treshut 


Well jan 


±nin 


lissa 


White safid 


Tteht 


tang 


Wet tar, udai 


TMv 


yach 


Young jawan 


Upper 


piath 






Declension. 


N. 


A good man 


jan manush \ 


G. 


Of a good man 


jan manush- sund 


A.cc. 


A good man 


jan manush-is 


Ab. 


From a good man 


jan manush-nishin 


N. 


Good men 


janchi manash 


a. 


Of good men 


janchi manash- sund 


Acc. 


Good men 


janchi manash-is 


Ab. 


From good men 


janchi manash-nishin 



Singular. 



Plurah 



Comparison. 

Good J an 

Better Yuts jan 
Best. Sitah jan 



Verbs. 



To awake 


votun 


To Burn 


zalun 


Avoid 


bachun 


„ Blow 


phok diun 


j, Ascend 


khasun 


3> Bury 


garhun 


j, Advance 


bron khasun 


,7 Buy 


miul hiun 


„ Ask 


prutsun 


j, Come 


iyun 




sompanun 


„ Cut 


tsatun 


„ Be able 


hekkun 


„ Call 


nadun 


„ Bring 


anun 


„ Conquer 


jitun 


„ Begin 


lagun 


„ Choose 


tsaruu 


„ Bite 


tsatun 


j, Cover 


vatun 


„ Believe 


patskarun 


„ Chew cud 


dramun karun 


„ Boil 


pakinwun 


Drink 


chiun 


» Beg 


mangun 




marun 



236 



Appendix D. 



J.0 JJweli 


hasun 


To Move 


alarawun 


Tin. 

„ Vo 


karun 


) j Open 


mussurun 


j, Decrease 


kamgachun 


T>1 


gindun 


j j Draw 


lamun 


n Jrut on 


gandun, chhawtm 


Drive 


patrozun 


„ Put off 


mutsurun, walun 


„ Drown 


pnatun 


„ Pain 


dod karun 


„ Ijxpel 


kadit tsumun 


„ Place 


thawun 


,, Erase 


kadun 


„ Pass 


guzarawun 


7) Enter 


andar atsun 


„ Plague 


dek karun 


„ xund 


makolawun 


„ Pour 


damn 




labnun 


T"» 1 

„ Push 


dhakdiun 


„ Fight 


iadun 


TT> 1 

„ Read 


parhun 




uphun 


„ Roast 


buzun 


» Fall 


parun 


j, Run away 


tsalun 


„ Fasten 


lagun 


j, Reap 


fasl tsatun 


„ Forget 


mashun 


„ Reckon 


gansrun 


„ Frighten 


kotsunawun 


„ Recollect 


yad karun 


» Go 


gasun 


„ Return 


phir diun 


„ Give 


diun 


Repel 


nibar kadun 


,5 Gamble 


zaras gmdun 


„ Retire 


pat nerun 


„ Hear 


bozun 


„ Ride 


khasun 


,, Increase 


badun 


,, Rise 


vathun 


j j Join 


melanawun 


„ Row 


vayun 


„ Kill 


marun 


„ Rouse 


uzanawun 


„ Know 


janun 


,j Run 


dauwun 


„ Kick 


lat diun 


,j Rub 


mathun 


„ Lose 


narun 


Stick 


lagun 


T " . „ 

„ Live 


zindasun 


j, Swim 


tsatwayun 


„ Leave 


it 

cnnorun 


ci n 

„ bweli 


hunun 


„ Laugh 


/ „ 
asun 


,, Sweep 


dun 


„ Learn 


hichun 


,j buckle 


chawun 


„ Hide 


khaditrozun 


Sing 


gewun 


jj Lilt 


tolun 


„ &pit 


Let 1\. Li a W LLJJ. 


„ Leap 


khanun 


„ Sell 


kunun 


» ^ 


apuz vanun 


j, Sit 


bihun 


„ Meet 


melun 


„ Show 


hawidun 


„ Melt 


galun 


j, Send 


sozun, ludun 



Appendix D. 



237 



To Strain 


chhanun 


To Take 


hiun 


„ Seek 


tsadun 


Taste 


tsuhun 


„ Sow 


vawun 


„ Teach ^ 


hichunawun 


„ Strike 


marun 


„ Throw 


trevitsunun 


Stand 


istadrozun 


„ Touch 


lagun 


„ Seize 


ratun 


Vomit 


khai karun 


„ Shut 


bandh karun 


Weave 


vonun 


» Say 


vanun 


„ Weigh 


tolun 


„ See 


uchhun 


„ Wait 


prarun 


„ Smell 


mushakhiun 


„ Wish 


yatsun 


Sleep 


shongun 


„ Wash 


chhalun 


j, Speak 


vanun 1 







I am 
Thou art 
He is 

We are 
Ye are 
They are 



Conjugations. 
Sompanun, to be. 

Present. 
buh chus 
tsuh chukuh 
suh chuh or cho 



Imperfect. 
I was buh osus 

Thou wast tsuh osukuh 
He was suh ous 



as chih We were as ous 

tahi chiwuh Ye were tahi osuwuh 

tim chih They were tim ous 

Perfect. 

I have been buh osus osmutun 

Thou hast been tsuh osukuh osmutun 

He has been suh ous osmutun 

•We have been as ous osmutun 

Ye have been tahi osuwuh osmutun 

They have been tim ous osmutun 
Pluperfect. 

I had been buh osus sompunwatun 

Thou hadst been tsuh osukuh sompunwatun 

He had been suh oils sompunwatun 

We had been as ous sompunwatun 

Ye had been tahi osuwuh sompunwatun 

They had been tim diis sompunwatun 



238 

I shall be 
Thou shalt be 
He shall be 

We shall be 
Ye shall be 
They shall be 

To be 
Being 
Been 



Appendix D. 

Future. 

buh heksompanit 
tsuh hekaksonipanit 
suh hekisompanit 

as hekausompanit 
tahi hekiusompanit 
tim hekausompanit 

sompanun 

sompanit 

sonipun 



Vanun, to speak. 
Present. 

I speak or am speaking buh chus vanan 

Thou speakest tsuh chukuh vanan 

He speaks suh chuh vanan 

We speak as chih vanau 

Ye speak tahi chiwuh vanau 

They speak tim chih vanau 

Imperfect. 

I spoke mi vun 

Thou spakest tsuh vanut 

He spoke suh vun 

We spoke as vanwutun 

Ye spoke tahi vanwutun 

They spoke timau vanwutun 

Perfect. 

I have spoken mi chum vanwutun 

Thou hast spoken tsuh chuh vanwutun 

He has spoken tim cha vanwutun 



We have spoken 
Ye have spoken 
They have spoken 



as cha vanwutun 
tahi chuh vanwutun 
timau chuh vanwutun 



Appendix D. 



Pluperfect. 

I had spoken mi 6s vanwutun 

Thou hadst spoken tsuh 6si vanwutun 

He had spoken tim 6s vanwutun 

We had spoken as osus vanwutun 

Ye had spoken tahi osu vanwutun 

They had spoken timau 6s vanwutun 
Future. 

I shall speak buh hek vanit 

Thou shalt speak tsuh hekak vanit 

He shall speak suh held vanit 

We shall speak as hekau vanit 

Ye shall speak tahi hekiti vanit 

They shall speak tim hekau vanit 

Potential. 

I may speak buh vanah 

Thou mayest speak tsuh vanak 

He may speak suh vani 

We may speak as vanau * 

Ye may speak tahi vaniu 

They may speak tim vanau 

Speak van 
Speaking vanan 

Spoken vanwutun 



Conjugation of the Passive Voice of martin to strike, 
Present. 

I am struck buh gasa marah 

Thou art struck tsuh gasak marah 

He is struck suh gasa marah 

We are struck as chih marah gasan 

Ye are struck tahi chuh marah gasan 

They are struck tim chih marah gasan 



240 



Appendix D. 



I was struck 
Thou wast struck 
He was struck 

We were struck 
Ye were struck 
They were struck 

I shall be struck 
Thou shalt be struck 
He shall be struck 

We shall be struck 
Ye shall be struck 
They shall be struck 



Personal. 



Imperfect. 

buh gos marah 
tsuh gok marah 
suh gau marah 

as gaye marah 
tahi gaii marah 
tim gaye marah 

buh gatsa marah 
tsuh gatsak marah 
suh gatsa marah 

as gat sail marah 
tahi gatsiii marah 
tim gatsau marah 



Future. 



Pronouns. 



Possessive. 



I 


buh 


Mine 


Thou 


tsuh 


Thine 


He, she ^ 


suh 


His 


We 


asi, mi 


Our 


Ye 


tahi 


Your 


They 


tim, timau 


Their 


Belative and Interactive. 


L 


Who? 


kus? 


This 


Which? 


kya 


That 


Whoever 


yus 


These 


Whatever 


yih 


Those 


He who 


yus 






Miscellaneous. 


Self 


pane 


Another 


Such 


yithiii 


Any 


All 


sari 


Every 


Same 


saru 


Own 


Other 


*bek 





mmn 
chhon 
tasun 

miun 

chhon 

tasun 



Indicative. 



ih 

uh, suh 

yum 

tium 



duyum 
kanh 
jnisaka 
panun 



Appendix D. 



241 



N. I 

G. Of me 

Acc. Me 

Ab. From me 

N. Thou 

G. Of thee 

Acc. Thee 

Ab. From thee 

N. He 

G. Of him 

Acc. Him 

Ab. To him 

N. This , 

a. of this 

Acc. This 

Ab. From this 

ST. That 

G. Of that 

Acc. That 

Ab, From that 



Declension of Pronouns. 



huh 
miun 
mi 

mi nishin 

tsuh 
chhon 
tsih 

tsih nishin 

suh 
tasmi 
humis 

humis nishin 
Ih 

yimsun 
yimis 

yimis nishin 

uh, suh 
yusun 
humis 

humis nishin 

Myself 
Of myself 



N. We 

g. of us 

Acc. Us 
Ab. From us 

N. You 
a. Of you 
Acc. You 
Ab. From you 

N. They 
G. Of them 
Acc. Them 
Ab. To them 

N. These 
G. Of these 
Acc. These 
Ab. From these 

N. Those 
G. Of those 
Acc. Those 
Ab. From those 

buh pane 
buh paiias 



mi 

► as in singular 



^) tsih 
I 

f- as in singular 
tim 

\ as in singular 
) 

yum 

yuhund 

yiman 

yiman nishin 

tium 

tinhund 

timan 

timan nishin 



Above 

Always 

Almost 

Also 

As 

Already 

Alone 

Altogether 



piat 

dohai 

jaljal 

biyih 

yiut 

wuini 

kunui 

sari san 



Adverbs. 
Below 
Backwards 
Except 
Exactly 
Enough 
Far 
From 
Forwards 



tal 

pat 

siwai 

thik 

thayu 

dur 

piath, nishin 
brunt 



242 



Appendix D. 



TT/ymt 
XlOw 


K1UE 


otili 


Xi . A 

tamat 


TTaw nrmph 1 

XXUVV XIX K.l\jLX 1 


kota 


x 11 ell 


til 


Tl Am man v J 


jluus 


ithui 


TTithpr 


yur 


Jinere 


tati 


In ci r\ & 

J-ili3ltl.t/ 


andar 


j-Mtner 


hor 


Inrme diately 


jhatpat 


Therefore 


imbapat 


Near 


nakh 


Together 


san 


J-tI u vv 


vum 


Very 


sitah 


No tiling 


Irpp Tin 11 


When 
VV HtSU 




No 


nah 


f Y JUClc ; 


Kan 


Outside 


nebar 


vv iiy 


kyazi 


Perhaps 


dewuh 


Yes 


on, au 


Quickly 


ialnahan 


How 


JK.1 LpUtlllll 


So 


ithui 


sAl 


yithipothin 


Slowly 


lut 


So j 


utiiiuotniii 


Suddenly 


yekayek 








Prepositions* 






ithui 


In 


andar 


After 


pat 


On 


piat 


Among 


mauz 


Towards 


tarf 


Before 


brunt 


With 


satin 


Besides 


varai 


Without 


siwa 


For sake of 


bapat 








Conjunctions. 




And 


ta 


If 


hargah 


Although 


hargah 


Either 




But 


lekin 


Or 


y* 


Because 


yudvane 








Interjections. 




Alas ! 


afsus ! 


|Lo! t 


uch ! 


Ho! 


hata! 


What I 


kya t 



Appendix D, 



243 



Cardinal Numhers. 



One 


ak 


Seventeen 


saddah 


m 

1 WO 


dzun 


Eighteen 


athdah 


mi 

Three 


tre 


Nineteen 


kunu wuh 


Four 


tsor, chor 


Twenty 


Willi 


Ti"* 

Hive 


pans 


Twenty-one* 


ekwiih 


oix 


shah 


Thirty 


truh 


a 

oeven 


sat 


Forty 


chatji 


Eight 


ath 


Fifty 


pansa 


AT* 

Nine 


nau 


Sixty 


shet 


Ten 


dah 


Seventy 


sat at 


Eleven 


kah 


Eighty 


shit 


Twelve 


bah 


Ninety 


namat 


Thirteen 


trowah 


Hundred 


hat 


Fourteen 


chaudah 


Two hundred 


zahat 


Fifteen 


pandah 


Thousand 


dahshat, sass 


Sixteen 


shurah 


Lakh 


lach 



*22 dzitdwub. 

23 trawuh 

24 chMwub. 

25 pantsuh 

26 shawwiih 

27 satowuh 

28 athowuh 

29 untruli 

31 ektruh. 

32 daitruh 

33 tchtruh 

34 chaitruh 

35 panstruh 

36 shahtruh 

37 sattruh 

38 athtruh 

39 kuntazi 
41 ektazi 
42 

43 

44 I 

45 y as above 



49 


tmwanzah 


51 


ekwanzah 


52 


dowanzah 


53 


trewanzah 


54 


cliauwanzah 


55 


panswanzah 


56 


shahwanzah 


57 


satw anzah 


58 


athwanzah 


59 


tinhath 


61 


ekhath. 


62 


dohath 


69 


kunsatafc 


71 


eksatat 


72 


dosatafc 


79 


kunsMt 


81 


ekshit 


89 


kunanamat 


91 


eknamat 


99 


namanamat 



Appendix D. 



Ordinal Numbers. 



First 


godniuk 


21st 


ekwuhhim 


Second 


duyum 


22nd 


dzitowuhiuni 


Third 


treyum 


23rd 


trawuhium 


Fourth 


tsurum 


24th 


chauwuhium 


Fifth 


panchum 


25th &c. 




Sixth 


shayum 






Seventh 


satum 






Eighth 


athtum 






Ninth 


nawum 






Tenth 


dahium 






Eleventh 


kahium 







What is your name ? 

What is the name of this village ? 

How far is it to Kashmir ? 

How many houses are there in this 

village ? 
Who is the head man ? 
What is the time ? 
Three o-clock, 
Bring that. 
Take away this. 
What crops are grown here ? 
Are the pears ripe or unripe ? 

Go away. 
Come here. 
Come quickly. 
What does this man want ? 
Ask him. 
I cannot say. 
I shall go to-morrow. 
It rained yesterday. 
It is very hot, 



chhon nau kya chuh ? 
yit gamas kya chuh nau ? 
Kashmir tamut kota chuh dur ? 
yit gamas kuts garh chuh ? 

mokaddam kus chuh ? 
kota chuh duh ? 
sihpahar chuh. 
uh anun. 
ih niun. 

yithi kya fasl chuh sompanan ? 
tank cho paminmud ki na kham 

chuh? 
gats, 
vol yur. 
jald volah. 

ih monhyu kya chuh mangan, 
humis prichu. 

buh chus sasna vanit hekan. 
buh gats phaga. 
rat volun rud. 
sitah garm chuh. 



Appendix ZX 245 

The road is good. vat chuh (or chavuh) jan. 

The road is bad. vat do. yach. 

One must ascend that hill. yit kohas piat bania khasun. 

What is the price of this ? yit kya chuh kiruat ? 

It is dear. drug chuh. 

It is cheap. sug chuh. 

You ask too much. tsuh chukuh sitah mangan. 

Are there any manufactures here ? yithi bania ki tyar karun ? 

Is cloth woven ? kapar bania vanun ? 

What pay do you get ? tsuh kya chuh talab inelan ? 

Is the Kardar a good man ? Kardar cho jan monhyu ? 

I wish to find out. buh chus yatsan zi maalum kar. 

Is he able to carry that load ? hekya uh bor tulit ? 

My horse is lame. miun gur lung chuh. 

Can you shoe him ? tsuh hekak yimis guris nal lagit ? 

What rent do you pay for this yit vanas kot chukuh diwan kiraya 

shop? tsuh? 
Six rupees a year. shah rupi varihas. 

He began to get tired. S uh lug thakne. 

They began to fight together. tim leg panawin harhar karani. 
Can you read and write ? tsuh hekak likhit, parhit ? 

-^-li^ 6 - kam kam. 

How do you know ? tsuh kitpdthin zanak ? 

In what way will you repair this ? tsuh kitpothin karan ih durust 
In what month is saffron gathered ? kat retas andar chih kongposh 
In Kartik. Kartikas andar. [tsatan ? 

What colour is best ? kya rang chuh sarikot jan ? 

If he takes it what will you do? hargah ih held timsritit, tsuh kyd 

karakadah ? 

Has he gone before, or is he follow- suh chuh brunt gomut, kin-pat 

in S ? chuh awan ? 

Why are you making such a noise ? tain kya zi chiir yiit krakanad karan? 
Put on this dress and put off that, ih kaparu mutsar, uh tsun noil. 
I went with him. buh chus gomut humis satin. 

He walks without shoes. suh chuh paizar siwai pakan. 

When he comes tell me. yili suh yi tili gasi mi khabar. 

Is it near or far ? nazdik cho, kinh dur chuh ? 



246 



Appendix D. 



You always delay. 

We are almost ready. 

I am hungry and thirsty. 

Don't eat raw apples. 

I have ate enough. 

Where is my servant ? 

Is he here or there ? 

It is still raining. 

Shall you sleep inside or outside ? 

This dog is exactly like mine. 

I have already heard that story. 

There is a bridge opposite. 

Do as I say. 

Write accordingly as I do. 

Are you alone ? 

He fell from his horse. 

Throw down that blanket. 

Come up here. 

How far is it from here ? 

It is five kos. 

My brother and I went home. 
Either you or he will be punished. 
Why should I be punished ? 
Because you are a thief. 
Unless you have witnesses you will 

be imprisoned. 
This horse is better than that. 
What do you call that basket ? 
Don't be frightened. 
He ought to have done so. 
Can you swim ? 
Listen ! show me the road. 
You must do it. 
Taste this peach. 
I cannot find my coat. 
Look behind that wall. 



tsuh chukuh dohi tser karan. 

as chih thikan thikan tyar. 

buh chus phake bi treshut. 

kham tsunt ma khiu. 

thaiii, khiaii. 

miun naukar kati chuh ? 

yithi cho, kinh tathi chuh ? 

vunyas tanyat chuh valan. 

andar shongak kinh nibar ? 

yih him chuh menis hunis hiu. 

mi buz suh kissa brunt. 

brohun kani chuh kadul. 

yithipothim buh dapan chus, tithi 
pothin kariu. 

menis lekhinas hiu likhiu. 

tsuh chukuh kunezun ? 

suh piau guri piat visit. 

uh kamal sun bonkun trevit. 

yur khas hiur. 

ithi piat kota chuh dur ? 

pans kroh chuh. 

ak buh bi miun boi gaye garh. 

ya tsuh nat humis meliwuh saza. 

mi kya zi did saza. 

awe bapat zi tsuh chukuh tsur. 

hargah tsuh gawa ashinah, ta kaid 

sompanak. 
ih gur chuh humsin kotjan. 
hut fiatis kya chuh vanan ? 
kots muh. 

timis guts ih karun. 
tsuh hekak tsant vayut ? 
hata ? mi hau vat. 
tsuh gatsi zariir karun. 
ih tsunun gatsi tsuhun. 
miun kurtah chuh nah in elan, 
hut dewaras pat kani uchhu. 



Appendix D. 



247 



He lost Rs 50 in gambling. 

I won Rs. 100 „ „ 

A snake bit him in the leg. 

She laughed much. 

We seized 10 thieves. 

They all escaped. 

They shall leave this country. 

I will punish them. 

Can you lend me a rupee ? 

What do you teach these children ? 

Let him come, why do you stop 

him? 
I beat him soundly. 
His house has been burnt. 
He will be buried to-morrow. 
Choose one of these apples. 
Cover that pan. 
Send me some fruit. 
He answered me falsely. 
Hang up these clothes. 
What are you doing ? 
I am cutting corn. 
Are these cows chewing the cud ? 
G-o and see. 
Feed them with grass. 
Give them water to drink. 
Has the room been swept ? 
Can this be washed ? 
I have two horses. 
He had three wives. 
I shall have plenty. 
I rode 10 kos without stopping. 

What is to be done ? 
They are drunk. 
We are poor. 

This room is 12 ft. long, 10 ft. wide, 



hum hari zaras andar pantsah rupi. 

mi ziun „ „ hat 

humis ditsnas sarpan langas tiop. 

humi us sitah. 

asi rit dah tsur. 

timaii tsail sari. 

tim tsalan yihu mulk. 

buh dimak adh timan saza. [dit ? 

tsuh hekak asi rupiyahak wozum 

im shiur kya chiwak hichanawan ? 

yiu ih kya zi chuwan ratan ? 

mi dint humis sitah mar. 

humis lug garhas nar. 

phaga ihi daffan karanah. [tanah. 

yimautsuntau andar tsuhun ak tsun- 

hut degchas piat thavin sarposh. 

asi mishin lacliu kinh mewah. 

tim vunasi mishin apuz jawab. 

ih kapar tsinun awezan. 

tsuh kya chukuh karan ? 

buh chus kanak tsatan. 

ih gau chuh dramun karan ? 

gatsit vuch. 

yim khiawuk gas. 

yim chuviuk tresh. 

at kothis duwah kinh nah ? 

ih yiya chhalanah ? 

mi chuh dzuh gur. 

timas asah tre koleyih. 

mi nishin asi ih sitah. 

buh gos dahan krohun guris Ida 

lakim varai. 
kya gatsi karan ? 
suh chuh mut. 
as chih kangal. 

ih koth bah pawah dsut, dah pawah 



248 Appe't 
and 9 ft. high. 

He was very lazy. 
Grive me rather less than one seer. 
Weigh this ghee. 
How much honey for a rupee ? 
Change this rupee into pice. 
Is there any batta taken ? 
Give that blind man, that lame 
man and that leper each an anna. 
Tare care how you carry that. 
I shall be very glad. 
All the people came to see. 
Is this the same horse or another ? 
Every man was killed. 
His father and mine are cousins. 

His uncle is rich. 
Her mother is poor. 
Your horse is lame. 
My servant is ill. 
Put this and that together. 
This is my own watch. 
Why was I beaten ? 
Shall I be beaten ? 
Why should I give you anything ? 
You should go quickly. 
There are rocks above and below. 
This language is rather difficult. 
With practice it will become easy 
Never mind, speak every day. 
Shall I go with or without my 

horse ? 
Why do you follow me ? 
I want alms. 
Perhaps it will rain. 
I was wet through. 



khushadah, bi chuh nau pawah 
thud, 
suh 6s sitah sust. 

mi gatsi ak sir akich kih kom diun. 

ih ghiau tuliun. 

rupia kdta chuh mach ? 

yit rupia aniu tiunk. 

kinh chuh hewan rupia vat ? 

humis anis ta humis langis ta 

humis hitriladas, akak ana did. 
uh chiz gatsi khabardari san niun. 
buh gatsa sitah khush. 
sari lok aye uchhini. 
ih chuh suhi gur. kinh bek chuh ? 
pratakah gau rnarah. 
humsnnd mol bi miun mol chih 

panaion boi bdi. 
humsund pitar chuh daiilatmand. 
humsanz moj chuh kangal. 
chhon gur chuh lung, 
miun monhyu chuh bemar. 
ak ih bi ih gachi vatun. 
ih chuh mi panin gar. 
buh kya zi gos marah ? 
buh gatsa marah ? 
buh kya zi dimai tsuh kih ? 
chhon gatsi jald gatsun. 
koh chuh piat ti ta tal ti. 
ih zaban chuh kentsa mushkil. 
adat satin gatsi asan. 
ki parwar chunah duhi van. 
buh gatsah garheth knih nah ? 

tsuh kya zi chukuh mi patpat wan ? 

buh chus bechan. 

dewah valik. 

buh 6s sitah baranah. 



Appen 

Dry my clothes in the sun. 

He and his brother were drowned 
in the river. 

The niaharaja is very kind to arti- 
sans. 

They are never fined. 
He sent me a good 'ziafat.' 
I laughed and she wept. 
This shawl is not worth Rs. 400. 
This is not the first time. 
The Government takes half the 
produce. 

I and you and he will go together. 
You will never come back. 
The people here are very dirty 
and poor. [Kashmir ? 

How many boats are there in 
About two thousand. 
Do they pay any tax ? 
If he ever do so, beat him. 

If you can jump over this ditch. 
I cannot jump over it. 
Can you shoot birds flying ? 
Is there any game in these hills ? 
Yes, a great deal. 
Of what kind ? 
There are bears and deer. 
How do you know ? 
I am a sportsman. 
What do the bears eat ? 
Indian com, walnuts and fruit. 

Are there any white bears ? 
Not here, but there are beyond. 
In what district ? 



iix D. 249 

niiim kapar hoknawu tapas. [phiat. 
suh bi tasun bof daryavas andar 

Maharaja chuh karigaran piat sitah 

miharbam karan. 
amis chun zehti chit ivan hinah. 
tim laz asi zabar ziafat. 
mi us ta tim wud. [hund. 
ih doshalah chuh nah tsorhatun 
ih chuh nah godiniuk do. 
sirkar chuh nisf paidaish he wan. 

ak buh bi tsuh bi suh gatsan ikwaten. 
tsuh guk nah biyi za yor. 
yithik 16k chih sitah mail talryi 

chih kangal. 
Kashmiras andar kotsa nau chih ? 
atsat chih dosas. 
kinh chih niahsul diwan ? 
hargah suh biyi ithui kare, adh 
maran. [wot tarit. 

hargah tsuh hekak yit khandakas 
buh hek nah tarit. [tan ? 

tsuh hekak wuphun janawar maii- 
yit kohas cho kinh shikar ? 
ad, sitah. 
kya kya chuh ? 
hapat chd kinh rus chuh. 
tsuh kitpothin zanak ? 
buh chus shikari, 
hapat kya chih khiawan ? 
makhai chih khiawan, dun chih 
khiawan, kinh mewah chih 
khiawan. 
kanu chah safid hapat ? 
ithi chuh nah, amma wehin chuh 
kut pergannahs andar ? 



250 Appendix D. 

On this or on that side of the hill ? kohas ihpar kinh chuh kinh apar 

kinh chuh ? 
Beyond it. apare. 

What kind of fish are there in the daryavas andarkami reng chih gad ? 
river ? 

A great many kinds. sitahi reng chih. 

Do people catch them or not ? low chih gad ratan kinh nah ? 
Attend to what I am saying. ih kinh tsuh huh vananchus, tat 

piat thau dhian. 

If you do not, you will repent it. hargah nah karak, adh pashtawak. 
If you do not go, I will heat you. hargah nah gasak, adh marut. 
Had you done as I told you, this yithi pothin mi dah piumau, hargah 

misfortune would not have hap- tithi poihin karihiu, adh ih 

pened. hauwinan kanthi halai. 

If I were rich, I would repair this hargah huh daulatmand asah, adh 

house. karahah yit kothas marammat. 

If he had gone there, he would hargah suh or gatsaheh adh hila- 

undoubteclly have been killed. shak gatse suh marah. 



Appendix E. 



251 



APPENDIX E. 



Language of Dravidian Aborigines. Notes on the Oraon Language. — 
By the Rev. F. Batsch, 

Nouns. 

The language is very defective in nouns. It is evident that the 
Oraons have lost much of their oavu language, and that they have 
made up th*eir losses from the languages of the people amongst 
whom they have dwelt, chiefly Sanskrit and Hindustani. They have 
no original religious terms, no abstract ideas, no words for actions of 
the mind or thoughts. 

Gender. 

In Oraon there are two genders, the masculine and the feminine, but 
there are very few nouns of the latter. 

Whether the noun is a masculine or feminine is only to be found 
in the termination of the verb. In the declension, the gender is not 
or only very seldom expressed. 

Declension. 

There are all the usages of the Hindi language to be found in the 
Oraon. The oblique cases are also formed by postpositions. 



Note. Pronunciation of the Koman characters as used in writing the Or; 
words. 



a 


like a 


in father 


e 


like e 


in peg 


u 


>, u 


„ rule 


o 


» o 


„ so 




„ i 


„ police 


ai 


>, ai 


„ aisle 


a 


„ a 


„ roman 


au 


„ ow 


„ owl 


u 


55 u 


„ full 


eh 


„ ch 


„ church 



" i » still ch as in German doch, loch 



Appendix II, 



Singular. 
Norn. kukos, the bay. 
Gen. kukosgahi, of the boy. 
Dat. kukosge, for to the boy. 
Ace. knkosin, the boy. 
Abl. kukosgusti, from the boy. 
Instr. (?) kukusanti, from or by the boy. 
Loc. kukosnu, on, in, upon the boy„ 
Agent. kukosim (?) 
Voc. ana ko, oh boy. 

Plural. 

Nom. kukor. 
Gen. kukorgahi. 
Dat. kukorge. 
Acc. knkorin. 
Abl . kukurgnsti . 
Instr. kukoranti. 
Loc. kukornu. 
Voc. ana koe. 

Singular. 
Nom. kukoi, the girl. 
Gen. kukoigahi. 
Dat. kukoige. 
Acc. kukoidin. 
Abl. kukoigusti. 
Instr. kukointi. 
Loc. kuknu. 
Agent. kukoidim. 
Yoc. an koi. 

Plural, 

Nom. kukoier. 

Gen. kukoiergahi, etc. 

Singular. 
Nom. chad, the boy. 
Gen. chadasgahi. 
Dat. chadge. 
Acc. chadin, or chadasin. 



Appendix E. 253 

Abl. cliaclgusti. 
Instr. chaclanti. 
Loc. chadnu. 
Agont. chadasim. 
Loc. ana chad. 

Plural. 

Nom. chadar. 
Gen. chadargahi. 

etc. 

The plural is mostly expressed in the termination of the verb, the 
noun remaining unaltered in the singular and plural. 

Nouns. 

Masculine. Feminine. 



tangdas 


son 


tangri 


daughtei 


kukos 


boy 


kukoi 


girl 


belas 


king 


belri 


queen 


meut 


husband 


mukka 


woman 






Nouns. 




mercha 


firmament 


chebda 


ear 


chechal 


earth 


tatcha 


tongue 


binko 


star 


cheka 


hand 


biri 


sun 


chochal 


bone 


chando 


moon 


pall 


tooth 


pairi 


morning 


chesar 


shoulder 


ulla 


day 


chocha 


back 


macha 


night 


kul 


belly 


ucha 


darkness 


umbalcho 


liver 


Si 


man 


? 


heart 


meth 


male 


? 


lungs 


mukka 


female 


cheso 


blood 


kuku 


head 


ched 


foot 


kes, chuti 


hair 


chosga 


leg 


chan 


eye 


angli 


finger 


kapre 


forehead 


eroch 


nail 


moy 


nose 


gurchi 


heel 


boi 


mouth 


maka 


knee 


gale 


cheek 


bari 


arm 



254 Appendix E. 

thapri palm of hand bercha cat 

gunri cow lakra tiger 

ado ox harha wolf 

era goat tsigalo jackal 

patha lamb cber fowl 

allah dog cokro cock 

Pronouns. 

En I nam we (both) 

nin thou em we (more than two) 

as he niin you 

ad it ar they 

ad she 
ne who 
end what 

Declension of pronouns. 

Singular. Plural. 

Norn. En, I &c. Em, we, &c. 

Gen. enghai, of me emhai. 

Dat. engage emage 

Acc. engan eman 

Abl. engusti emgustim 

Instr. enganti emanti 

Loc. engnu emanu or emanum 

Agent. enim emim 

Nom. nin, thou nim, you 

Gren. ninghai nimhai 

Dat. ningage nimage 

Acc. ninin nimin, nimanun 

Abl. ningusti nimgustim 

Instr. ninanti nimanti 

Loc. ninganu nimganu 

Agent. ninim (?) nimim (?) 



Appendix E. 



255 



Norn. 

Gen. 

Dat. 

Acc. 

Abl. 

Instr. 

Loc. 

Agen. 



as, lie 

asgahi 

asge 

asin 

asgusti 

asanti 

asganu 

asim 



ar, they 
argahi 
arge 
arin 

argustim 
aranti 
argnu 
arim. 



The dual may be formed, but does not really exist,— as 

nam irab, we both nim irib, you both 

nam irbgahi 



mm 
nim 



irbargahi 



nam 


irbge 


nima 


irbarge 


nam 


irbatin 


nim 


irbarim 


nam 


irbgusti 


nim 


iribgusti 


nam 


irbanti 


nim 


iribanti 


nam 


irbnu 


nim 


iribnu 




Postpositions. 




gane, 


with 


chocha, after 


gusti, 


from 


mechha, above 


gusan, 


unto 


kuti, 


beside 


g*> 


to, for 


hiri, 


near 


anti, 


by, through 


katha, 


beyond 


nu, 


upon 


gechha, 


far 


num, 


in 


menya, 


up 


kiiiya, beneath 


mund, 


before 



Adjectives. 



Nom. 


sanni alas, little man 


Gen. 


sanni alasgahi 


Dat. 


sani alasge 


Acc. 


sani alasin 


Abl. 


sani alasgusti 




etc. etc. 


Nom. 


sanni mukka, little woman 


Gen. 


sanni mukkagahi 



256 



Appendix E. 



Dat. 
Loc. 
Abl. 

Pos. 

Comp. 

Superl. 

Pos. 

Comp. 

Superl. 



yjCLi.lL 


white 


Diocharu, 


black 


cheso, 


red 


hariar, 


green 


piyar, 


yellow 


digna, 


long 


pudda, 


short 


mot, 


thick 


sarhua, 


thin 


chaika, 


lean 


kuba, \ 


crooked 


benko, 3 




ujgo, 


straight 


mechha, 


high 


phuda, 


low 


maldan, 


ugly 


sobhdas, ] 


. beautiful 


kore, J 




bens, 


good 


malbens, 


bad 


malkore, 


ill 


pachgi, 


old 


joch, 


young- 


sanni, 


small 


bhircha, 


hard 



sanni mukkage 
sanni mukkasin 
sanni mukkasgusti, etc. 

Comparison, 
sanui, small 
adinti sanni, smaller 
ad hurminti sanni, smallest 

koha, great 
adinti koha, greater 
ad hurminti koha, greatest 
Adjectives. 

gari, deep 

otta, heavy 

nebba, light (not heavy) 

marchia, dirty 

kuri, hot 

kurna, warm 

kiri, cold 

bariar, strong 

jukki, little 

chaiga, wet 

chaika, dry 

kira, hungry 

didirna, satisfied (full) 

nidi, empty 

ninka, full 

chandrna, sleepy 

ejrna, watchful 

landi, slow 

kitka, rotten 

panjka, ripe 

chena, unripe 

ghutum otaro, -round 

tissa, sour 

phari, pure 



Appendix E. 257 
Numerals. 



■onta, 


one 


In numbering human beings. 


^enr, 


two 


these are the following numerals : 


linmd, 


three 




nach, 


four 


ort alas, one man 


pantche, 


five 


irib alar, two men 


soi, 


six 


nub alar, three men 


sate, 


seven 


naib alar, four men 


athe, 


eight 


pantche alar, five men 


nawe, 


nine 


etc. 


clase, 


ten 





There are no ordinals. 

tara, half 

onghon thauna, once 
panr enr, twice 
panr mund, thrice 
panr nach, four times 
etc. 



Verbs. 

The auxiliary to he, manndge* 
Indicative Mood. 
Present. 







I am 


&c. 


En 


ra 


: adan 


rain 


nin 


ra 


: aday 


ra : adi 


as 


ra 


: adas 


ad ray ad rai 


em 


ra 


: adam 


raim 


nim 


ra 


: adar 


ra : aday 


ar 


ra 


anar 


ar ra : nay 






Imperfect. 






I was. 


En 


ra : 


achkan 


ra : achan 


nin 


ra : 


achkay 


ra : achki 


as 


ra : 


achas 


ad ra : acha 


em 


ra : 


achkam 




nim 


ra : 


achkar 


ra : ach kay 


ar 


ra : 


achar 


ad ra ; achay 



258 



Appendix E. 

Perfect. 
I have been. 



En 


manjkan 


be 


edan 


en 


manjkan 


be 


: en 


nin 


manjkai 


be 


eday 


nin 


manjki 


be 


: edi 


as 


manjkas 


be 


edas 


ad 


manjki 


be 


: i 


em 


manjkam 


be : 


edam 


em 


manjkeem 


be 


: em 


nim 


manjkar 


be 


edar 


nim 


manjkay 


be • 


eday 


ar 


manjkar 


be 


enar 


ad 


manjkay 


be . 


enay 








Pluperfect. 
















1 had been. 










En 


manjkan 


ra : 


achkan 


en 


man j kin 


ra : 


achan 


nin 


manjkai 


ra : 


achkaij 




manjki 


ra : 


achki 


as 


manjkas 


ra : 


achas 


ad 


manjki 


ra : 


acha 


em 


manjkam 


ra : 


achkam 




manjkam 


ra : 


achkam 


nim 


manjkar 


ra : 


achkar 




manjkay 


ra : 


achkay 


ar 


manjkar 


ra : 


achar 




manjkay 


ra : 


achay 



En 

nin 

as 

em 

nim 

ar 



En 

nin 

as 

em 

nim 

ar 

En 

nin 

as 

em 

nim 

ar 



Future. 
I shall or will be. 

manon 
manoy 

manos ad man© 

manom 

manner 

mannor 

Future completive. 

I shall have been, 
manj chachon, 
manj chachoy 
manj chachos 
manj chachom 
manj chachor 
manj chachor 

Imperative Mood, 



manon, 

mana 

rnana 

mannom 

mannor 

mannor 



let me be. 

manai, be thou. 

ad mani, let him, etc. be. 



Appendix E. 

Potential Mood. 

Present. 
I can be. 
En manna ongon, 
nin mana ongoi 
as manna ongos 
em manna ongom 
nim manna ongor 
ar manna ongor 
Imperfect. 
I might, could, &c. be. 
En manna ongdon 
nin manna ongday 
as manna ongdas 
em manna ongdam 
nim manna ongdar 
ar manna ongmar 
Perfect. 
' I may have been. 
En manna ongkan be : edan 
nin manna ongkay be : eday 
as manna ongkar be : edar 
em manna ongkam be : edam 
nim manna ongkar be : edar 
ar manna ongkar be : enar 

Pluperfect. 
I might, could, &c. have been. 
En manna ongkan ra : achkan 
nin manna ongkay ra : achkay 
as manna ongkar ra : achas 
em manna ongkam ra : achkam 
nim manna ongkar ra : achkar 
ar manna ongkar ra : achar 
Conditional Mood. 
Present. 
If I be. 

en manon, em manoni 

nin manoy nim manor 

as manos ar manor 



Appendix E. 



Imperfect. 
If I were. 

Te en nolle, em nolle 

nin nolle nim holfe 

as nolle ar nolle 

Infinitive Mood. 
manna, being 
mannage, to be 



3, to go. 
Indicative Mood, 
Present. 

Masc. Fern. Dual 

En kalakdan, kalagin, nam irbatim kalakdfs 
nin kalakday, kalakdi, 
as kalakdas, ad kalgi, 
em kalakdam, kalagem, 
nim kalakdar, kalakday, 
ar kalaknar, kalaknay, 

Imperfect. 
En kalakkan kalakkam 

kalakkay kalakkar 

kalakyas kalakyar 
Perfect. 
En kerkan be : edan 

kerkay be : eday 

kerkas be : edas 

kerkam be : edam 

kerkar be : edar 

kerkar be : enar 
Pluperfect. 
En kerkan ra : achkan 

kerkay ra : achkay 

kerkas ra : achas 

kerkam ra : achkam 

kerkar ra : aclikar 

kerkar ra ; achar 



Appendix E, 



261 



Future. 

En kaun kaom 
kaoy kaor 
kaos kaor 
Future completive. 

En kala chachor kala chachom 

kala chachoy kala chachor 

kala chachos kala chachor 

Lipekatite Mood. 
En kauri kalon kaum kalom 

nin kaoy kalakaloi kaor kala 

kaos kaor 



Potential Mood, 
Present. 
I can go 



En 


kala ongon, 




kala ongoni 




kala ongoy 




kala 


ongor 




kala ongos 




kala 
Imperfect. 


ongor 


En 


kala ongdan 




kala 


ongdam 




kala ongday 




kala 


ongdar 




kala ongdas 




kala 

Perfect. 


ongnar 


En 


kala imgkan 


be 


: edan 




nin 


kala nngkay 


be 


: eday 




as 


kala ungkas 


be 


: edas 




em 


kala ungkam 


be 


: edam 




nini 


kala nngkar 


be 


: edar 




ar 


kala nngkar 


be 


: edar 








Pluperfect. 




En 


kala imgkan 


ra 


achkan 




nin 


kala nngkay 


ra 


aclikay 




as 


kala imgkas 


ra 


achkas 




ern 


kala nngkam 


ra : 


achkam 




nim 


kala nngkar 


ra 


achkar 




ar 


kala nngkar 


ra 


achar 





262 



Appendix E. 



Te en kaun, 

nin kae 

as kaus 

Te en kerkan 

nin kerkay 

as kerkas 



Conditional Mood. 

Present. 

If I go. 

em kaum 
nim kaor 
ar kaor 

Imperfect. 

em kerkam 
nim kerkar 
ar kernar 

Patictple. 

kalke 
kalar 
kalnosim 

Infinitive Mood. 



kana, 



going 



kalage, to go 



En 



En 



nandan 
nanday 
nandas 

nanjkan 
nanjkar 
nan j as 



JSfandge, to do. 
Indicative Mood. 

Present. 

nandam 

nandar 

nandar 



Impeii 



nanjkam 

nanjkar 

nanjar 



Perfect. 
be : edan 
be : eday 
be : edas 



Enim nanjkan 
ninim nanjkay 
asim nan j as 
emim nanjkam be : edam 
nimim nanjkar be : edar 
arim nanjkar be : enar 



En 
nin 

as 

En 
nin 

as 

En 
nin 



Appendix E. 

Pluperfect. 
Enim nanjkan ra : achkan 
ninim nanjkae ra : achkay 
asim nanjkas ra : achas 
emim nanjkam ra : aehkam 
nimim nanjkar ra : achkar 



263 



anm 

nannon 
nannoy 
nannos 



nanjchachon 
nanjchachoy 
nanjchachos 

nannon 
nannoi 
nannos 



ar 



ra : achar 
Future. 

em 

nim 

ar 

Future completive. 

em 

nim 

ar 

Imperative Mood. 

em 

nim 

ar 



nannom 
nannor 
nannor 

nanjchachom 

nanjchachor 

nanjchachor 

nannom 

nanor 

nannor 



Verbs. 

to beat laona 

to drink ona 

to sleep chandrna 

to walk . ekna 

to swim ogna 

to plough oyna 

to cut choina 

to sow chachna 

to eat mochna \ 

to eat ona j 

to ride argna 

to fall katrna 

to rise cho : na 

to see erna 

to hear menna 



264 



Appendix E. 



to speak kochna karna 



to sing- 


parna 


to blow 


urna 


to dance 


nalna 


to sit 


okna 


to tie 


chotna 


to go 


kana 


to cook 


biitna 




Adverbs. 


below 


kinya 


near 


hiri 


within 


ekatara 


whence 


ekaiants 


bow 


ekane 


not 


ambo 


yes 


hae 


whence 


ekaianti 


whither 


ekatara 


alone 


oatoch 




Conjunctions. 


and 


dara 


then 


antle 


but 


pahe 


or 


bhel 


because 


igune 


also 


hon 


when 


ekabiri 


if 


3« 



TJie Lord's Prayer. 
He embai je mercha nu ra : aday. Ninghai name pavitr mano, 
Ninghai raji bar : o ; ninghai suuwak ekane mercha nu, aneho chochal 
nu ho mano. Emhai ulla ullanta asma ina emage chia. Antle emhai 
dosan muaf nana, ekane omho emhai dosnanurin muaf nandan. Antle 
©man pariksha nu amba cha : a, pahe burainti chhar a ba : a Raji, 
sawang antle mahatm sadau sadau ninghai rai. Amin. 



Appendix E. 



265 



Creed. 

En bishwas nandan Dhames euibas nu, as je mercha dara che- 
Dhaigahi sangias sirjanharas talias, antle asgahi ortostonka tangdas. 
Prabhus Jisus (Jhristusnu, je Dharmatmanti Kulnu barchhas dindam 
Mariamauts kundrus, Pontius Pilatus tarti dukkan chedas, Krusnu 
kilras keras, ketchas keras, mandras keras, antle naraknu itias, ulmund- 
nu ketch ka gusti ujias dara chochus mercha nu argias, antle sawan- 
gias tambas Dkarineshgahi rnandi ckeka tara uk : as be : edas ; eksanti 
as ujnarin antle ketch karin nisab nanage phen bar : os. 

En bishwas nandan dharmatnia nu : Dharmir Christaner gahi go 
honda nu dhar mir gahi salha me, papgahi chhema, med gahi jia cho : 
oua antle jug jug gahi jia nu. Amin. 

Ten Commandments. 

1. Dharnie nimhai Dharme entol konnek anuni dosar Dharmesin 

amba man : a. 

2. Indri im juthi gahi dewt a piija amba nana. 

3. Dharme ninghai Dharmes gahi namin begar bujhra : am amba ana. 

4. Dharmes gahi ulan paoits niage amba modr a. 

5. Ninghai ago babasin maha tinchia, 

6. Alawein amba chetar chia, 

7. Nanna mukkargane amba nana bekamma dral tarah amba mana. 

8. Chalal amba chara. 

9. Phasiar amba ana, ninghai orsi porsir un pha-siar gawahi amba 

chia 

10. Xinghai orsi porsir gahi erpa erpanta talach amba nana. 



266 



Appendix F. 



APPENDIX 

Brief Vocabulary of the Moondah and 



Jbnglish, 


Moondah, 


Ho. 


Kherriah 


Man 


horo 


ho 


hibo 


Woman 


era 


era 


kanseldo 


Boy 


coora 


cooa 


baboo 


Girl 


corsi 


cooi 


buij 


TT, -1 

Mead 


bohu 


bo 


boko 


TT ; 

Jtiair 


ub 


ub 


ulloi 


XT' 

.bar 


lutur 


lutur 


lutur 


Jiiye 


med 


met 


mud 


Month 




a 


tamode 


Tooth 


data 


danta 


goineh 


TCI J 

Hand 


tihi 


tih 


tih 


-root 


kata 


kata 


katta 


i>one 


jang 


jang 




Blood 


myam 


myum 


enjam 




billi 







To-day 


tiping 


tiping 


mupoo 


JNight 




nida 


eedib 


Sky 


sirma 


sirma 


o 


Sun 


singi 


singi 


borho 


Moon 


chandu 


chundu 


lerung 


Star 


epil 


epil 


sencom 


Heat 


lolo 


lola 


lolo 


t ire 


singil 


sengil 


tingson 


Water 


dah 


dah 


dah 


Wind 


hoyo 


hogo 


kogo 


River 








Stone 








Tree 


daru 


daru 




Village 








House 


ora 


ora 





Snake 




beeng 


bungham 



Appendix F. 



267 



cognate Languages of the Kolarian type.— By Lieut. -Col. Dalton. 

South ah 



Putoons or 
J uang. 



Bliumiz ■ 
(Latham.) 



Coour 
(Dr. Yoysey.) 



jnang 


borb 


borro 


boko 


innkba 






suttan 


lunda 








lnndi 








bocob 


bubo 


bubo 




juta (H) 


nb 


ub 


au 


lutur 


lutur 


lutur 




enior 


met 


met 


mebt 


t anion 


mocba 


alang 


ab 


goneh 


datba 


datta 






tbi 


tbi 








K'dZdi 




bar (H) 


jang 


iano,' 




iyam 


myum 


my mi 




susute 


billi 


pito 




missing 


tebeng 


tising 




berote 


nmdba 


nidba 




akas (H) 


sir ma 


reiumil 




surnj (H) 


singi 


singi 




lernng 


cliandu 


ebandii fit) 




konjincla 


ipil 


ipil 


ipil 


lalai 


sengel 


sengel 


sicgbel 


dab 


dab 


dab 


da 


koro 








noi (H) 


garra 


garra 




olag 


dim 


dim 




snmsing 


dare 


darvi 


darao 


jaon (H) 


atbu 


batbuge 






dra 


ora 


oarra 


bubung 


bing 


bing 





208 



Appendix G r 



APPENDIX G. 



Language of the Kolarian Aborigines; — Grammatical construction of 
the Ho language. — By Lieut. -Col. Tickell.* 

I hope due allowances will be made for the imperfectness of the 
grammatical details here given, when it is remembered that the Ho 
language has no written character, nor does there exist a person, native 
of the Kolehan or otherwise, who could give me the slightest assis- 
tance on this point. 

It would be trite to observe that grammar is as inherent and essen- 
tial to all languages, even the most barbarous, as a vocabulary itself. 
By first learning a number of the words and sentences arbitrarily, the 
system on which they are founded may be detected in due time by 
patient comparisons of them, even when the speakers themselves are 
unable to give the inquirer the least information on the construction 
of what they are saying. With this difficulty once mastered, it is 
inconceivable with what ease the most (apparently) complex and 
difficult languages become familiar. 

The sounds of the Ho language are exceedingly pure and liquid, 
without strong aspirates or gutturals, and may be well rendered by 
the English alphabet, or still better the French one, as that admits of 
the slight nasal inflection which prevails in many words in the Ho 
dialect. 

Let the following conventions be made to the sound of the vowels, 
in the ensuing dialogues, &c. 



a as in " father," " rather," 

e „ "prey," "e'te," 

I ■ „ " skip," « trip," 

ee — „ " sheep," " peep," 

7 ■ „ "Ay," "try," 

ai or ay longer sound as in " aye, aye ?" 

g v " bone," " stone," 

oo y « fool," " stool," 



fn (nasal n) „ "Ton" " Fanfaron," (French.) 

* Reprinted from As. Soc. Journal, Vol. IX. p. 1063. 
•f Also g, as the French liquid g, in Cologne, Boulogne, 



. Appendix G. 269 

The long acute vowel sounds, such as oo and ee, also the letter r, 
are pronounced too liquidly and subtilely to be easily imitated by a 
stranger, and in some words the inflections of the vowels are in- 
conceivably complex and mellifluous. The general euphony or cadence 
of the language is sprightly and cheerful; if the subject be of a 
complaining nature, it subsides into a strange chaunt, the sentences 
being linked together by such see-saw sounds, as " na-do na-do enete 
na-do" which have no meaning, but serve to connect together the 
speaker's ideas. 

When two or more words come together, the former ending, and 
the latter beginning with similar vowels, they are joined by ellipsis, 
as " Hola'le seniena," instead of " Hola alle seniena," ive went yesterday. 

Article. 

There is none, (properly speaking), definite or indefinite. 

Noun. 

There is no distinction of genders, marked or influenced by ter- 
mination, it being determined by the sense or meaning of the word 7 
whether referring to a male or female being. Besides man and woman, 
"erril" and "era," hoy and girl, "koa" and " kooee," names of rela- 
tions, and those of a few domestic animals, all other nouns are 
distinguished in their gender by prefixing " Sandee" male, or " Enga" 
female, as in Persian or English gtyj ^ <^Uj he-bear, she-bear. 

A noun has three numbers, singular, dual, and plural, as in Greek. 

The nouns can scarcely be said to have declension, as the terminal 
does not vary either according to number or case, although a dis- 
tinguishing adjunct, which may be called a c Pronoun article,' from 
its nature and use, is added. 

Singular. Dual. Plural. 

Norn. Seta, a dog. Seta king, two dogs. Seta ko, dogs. 

Gen. Seta-a, of a dog. Seta kingya, of two dogs. Seta koa, of dogs. 
Ab. Seta-t 6, from a dog. Seta king te, from tivo dogs. Seta ko te, from 

dogs. 

The dative, accusative,, and vocative cases do not differ from the 
nominative, being only known from their position in a sentence. 

In composition, the noun in an accusative case takes the first place 
in the sentence, if the nominative be a pronoun ; otherwise the noun- 
nominative precedes, the accusative follows, and the oblique or dative 
case comes immediately before the verb, sometimes immediately after 



270 Appendix G. 

it. "En ho kajikeeai aya era," that man said to Us wife, "Dendka 
oe tootigoikeea," Dendka shot the bird. " Eean h5n do chowlee seta 
emadya," my son gave the dog some rice. 

Adjective. 

The adjective does not alter in termination, either in number, case, 
or gender ; and always precedes the noun it qualifies. As " Boogee 
ho," a good man ; " Boogee ho-a," of a good man ; "Boogee holo te," 
with a good man, &c. There are no degrees of comparison, but as in 
Hindustani the qualifying words very, or most of all, are prefixed to 
denote grades of quality, as "Etka," bad, " Ena te neea o etka," this 
is worse than that. " Sabee re nee o etka minna," this is worst of all. 
"Boogee leka era," a pretty woman. "Boogee leka era ko," pretty 
women. 

Pronoun. 

The first personal pronoun has four numbers, the singular, dual, 
plural, and plural comprehensive. The others only the three first, as 
noticed in the noun-substantives. 

The possessive pronouns are the same as the personal, with the 
genitive inflection d added. 

Personal Pronouns. 
Singular. Dual. Plural. PI. comprehensive. 

1st. Eeng or aing, i" Alleeng, we two Alle, we Aboo, we all 
2d. Um, thou Abben, you two Appe, you „ 

3d. Ay or ayo, he Aking, they two Ako, they „ 
In speaking, if the person include the person addressed, himself, and 
every one present, as nominatives or agents, he uses the plural com- 
prehensive. If he exclude the person addressed, he employs the first 
person plural, as " Hola aboo seniena," yesterday we went (i. e. you 
and all of us.) " Hola alle seniena," yesterday we tvent (i. e. not you, 
we alone.) 

The personal pronouns in the nominative case both precede and 
terminate the verb, optionally with the speaker, as, I speak, " Eeng 
kajitanna" or "Eeng kajitannaing" or " Kajitannamg." 

I go, "Eeng senotana," or "Eeng senotannaing," or " Senotan- 
naing." 

And to give energy to the sentence, the pronoun is repeated, with 
the connect " do" between them, as " Eeng do eeng kajitanna," 'Tis I 
who speak," Um do um kombookenna," Thou alone statest it. 



Appendix G. 271 

The most difficult part of their construction is in the dative and 
accusative cases, which are absorbed in the verbs they are governed 
by, in a manner unknown to other languages, being placed in the 
centre of the verb, after the root, and before the tense terminal. 

As, / speak to thee, " Eeng kajimetanna ;" he spoke tome, " ayo 
kajikedmgia he spoke to them, " kajiked &oai ;" the tiger saw me 
" koola do neldedwigia ;" he killed him, " ayo goikedaya." Here I have 
underlined the oblique or accusative pronoun, where it comes in, just 
before the tense terminal of the verb. 

Possessive Pronouns. 
Singular. Dual. Plural. PI. comp. 

Is*. Eenga* or aingia, my alleengia allea abooa 
2d. Umma, thy abbena appea 

3d. Aya, his akingia akoa „ 

These always precede their substantives. 
Demonstrative Pronouns. 
Singular Dual. Plural. 

Nee or inee, this neeking, these two niko, these 

Need or ineea, of this neekingia, of these two neekoa, of these 

Neete, or ineete, to, with, neekingte, neekote, 
&c. this 



En > tJiat enking, those two enko, those 

Ena, of that enkinga, of those two enkoa, of those 

Ente, by, from with &c. that enkingte', enkote, 
" Nee" this, is sometimes used idiomatically by a person referring 
to himself. If a Kole were to be asked what countryman he was? he 
would answer, " Ho nee ge," I am ; or literally, this is a Kole. Of 
what clan are you ? Answer, " Poortee neege'," lama Poortee. 
Interrogative Pbonouns. 
Okoi, who ? chikan, which? chia, what ? 

Okoia, whose ? chikana, of which f 

Relative Pronouns. 
Relative pronouns are very vague, the sentence being generally so 
rendered as to obviate the necessity of them, thus, instead of saying, 
The man toho went ; a Kole would say, The gone man, « Senien 
Horo." 

* Pronounced, as f mignon/ < Ligne,' &c. in French. 



272 



Appendix G. 



But at times " Chikana," whatever, and " Ena," that, are used 
relatively, as " Chikana urn kajeea, ena eeng aiooma," what you say, 
that I will listen to. 

Verbs! 

Verbs are either active or neuter. There is no passive voice. 
The Infinitive mood is formed by adding ted to the root. 
The present participle by adding tan or te. 
The Past participle by affixing hedte. 

In the active or transitive voice, the Present tense Indicative mood 
adds to the root " tanna," in the neuter voice, " akanna." 

Imperfect tense there is none, the Present tense being used, and 
its Imperfect signification understood by the context. 

The Perfect tense is formed by adding in the active voice, " hidda, 
heea, henna, lidda, or tadda" to the root. In the neuter voice, " lena" 
or " iena," sometimes u henna" 

There is no Pluperfect tense, but greater completion is expressed by 
conjugating the verb "chabtea," to finish, added to the root; much 
the same way as " chookna" in Hindustanee. 

The Future is formed by adding to the root eea or od, or sometimes 
simply d, in which latter case the sound of the root is prolonged. 
Except " nooitea," to drink, which makes " noonooa ;" and "rotea," 
to gore (as a bull) " roroa." 

The Imperative is formed by adding Cin the 2nd person singular) to 
the root, " men" and " omen" or " ymen," if the root end with a con- 
sonant. In the other persons ha precedes the pronoun, and the simple 
root of the verb, which will be more clearly shown in conjugating. 
In a negative sense, " alum" or " alo" is prefixed to the 2nd personal 
pronoun, d being added to the root ; if in the 3rd person, singular, 
dual, or plural " aloha" is prefixed to the pronoun, and the root alone 
of the verb is used. 

The Subjunctive mood is vague and imperfect. In the Present and 
Future tenses " redo" is added to the root, sometimes together with 
the word u honang" 11 derang" or " tord" (signifying conditionality) 
affixed. 

The Past tense is formed in the same way ; indeed there appears to 
be no Past Snbjunctive tense ; but sometimes the conditional terminal 
u redo" is added to the Past perfect Indicative. 



Appendix G. 273 

This word " redo" admits the vowel to be affixed to it, or to come 
immediately before it and after the root. 

Conjugation of the verb " Kajeetea," to speak. 

Infinitive Mood. 
Present tense — Kajeetea, to speak, 
Present Participle — Kajitan, or Kajiente, speaking, 
Past Participle — Kajikedte, having spoken. 

Indicative Mood, 

Present tense. 

Sing. Dual. Plural. 

1st. Person, Aing, *) Alleeng — Alle, ~) ^ ... 
2d. , TT™ I KM*™* AKk<vn \™£ C -^ajitanna, 

3d. !! 



UmJ" I Kajitanna, Abben— Appe' i Kajitanna, . 
Ayo, j Aking-Ako, ' ) ^c.amspeakzng 



Perfect tense 
1st. Aing — Alleeng — Alle, 
2d. Um — Abben — Appe, 
3d. Ayo — Aking — Ako, 



Kajikidcla, Kajilidda or Kajitadda. 
I Sc. spoke or have spoken. 



Future tense. 

Aing, Um, &c. &c. &c— -Kajeea, / Sc. Sc. will speak. 



Sing. 

Eeng Kakajee, Let me speak. 
Um Kajeemen, Speak thou 



Impeeative Mood. 

Dual. Plural. 

Kajeeaboo or Abookakajee, Let us all, Sc. 



Ayo Kakajee or \ Let 
Kakajee o kai, J 



him 



Kajeeben or Abbenkakajee, Speak you, 
Sc. 

Kajeealling or Allingkakajee,Ze£ws, Sc. 
Kajeealle or Alleokakajee Let us, Sc. 
Kajeeako or Akokakajee Let them, Sc. 
Kajeeaking or Akingkakajee, Let them, 
Sc. 



Negative. 



Sing. 

Alokaing kajeea, Do not let me speak. 

Alum kajeea, Speak not. 

Alo kai kajeea, Do not let him speak. 



Dual. Plural. 

Alo k'aboo kajeea. 
Alo k'alle kajeea. 
Alla'bben kajeea. 
Al'appe kajeea. 
Alo ka'ko kajeea. 
Aloka'king kajeea j 



Do not let us 
Sc. Sc. 
speak. 



274 



Appendix G. 



Subjunctive Mood. 
Present tense. . 



Eeng Kajeeredo, If I speech. 
Um Kajeeredo, If thou speakest. 
Aio Kajeeredo, If lie speak, 



)■ Kajeeredo, If we Sc. speak. 



Aboo, ^| 
Alle*, 
Abben, 
Appe, 
Ako, 
Aking, ^ 

Perfect or Pluperfect. 
Eeng, Urn, &c. &c. &c. Kajeekedredo, i/" J c£c. <£c. Sc. had spoken, 

Conditional, or Potential. 
Eeng Kajeaing bonang, I would speak. 
Um Kajeeum bonang, Tliou Sc. 
4-'"o Kajeea bonang, He, Sc. 

Note. As has been before explained, in all these tenses and persons (except 
in the Imperative) the pronoun may be either prefixed, or afiixed, or both. 



Alle &c. &c. Kajeea bonang, 

We might or would speak. 



Tbe same Verb, Conjugated with its Objective pronoun. 
Indicative Mood 

Present tense. 
Eeng or Ayng Kajeeing tanna, I speak to myself 
„ Kajee metanna, I speak to thee. 

„ Kajee ai'tanna, I speak to him. 

„ Kajee' letanna, I speak to ourselves. 

„ Kajee' ling tanna, / speak to us two. 

„ Kajee' ben tanna, I speak to you two. 

jj Kajee' petanna, I speak to you. 

„ Kajee king tanna, I speak to them two. 

,, Kajee kotanna, I speak to them. 

Tbe same exactly for all tbe otber persons, and tenses, &c. 
Perfect tense. 
r Kajikedingia. 
Kajiked'mia. 
Kajikedaia. 
Kajikede'lia. 
i Kajiked'lingia. y 
Kajiked'bena. 
Kajikedpea, 
Kajikedkingia 
Kajiked'koa. 



Aing, Um, Ayo 

&Q. &C. &G. 



I, thou, he, 
Sc. Sc. Sc. 



f spoke to myself, 
spoke to thee, 
spoke to him. 
spoke to ourselves 
•{ spoke to us two. 
spoke to you two. 
spoke to you. 
spoke to them two. 
jpoJce to them. 



Appendix G. 



•275 



Examples of this construction, especially in the Imperative mood, 
will be given in the Vocabulary, so need not be further dwelt on here. 



It is scarcely possible to reduce the verb " to be" to conjugation, 
unless we suppose the varied forms in which it is used as inflections of 
separate verbs, wanting in many tenses. For " to be" is expressed by 
different verbs, according to its allusion to time, a person, or a thing ; 
and its relation to mere existence or to the nature of existence. In 
short, there is no auxiliary verb " to be" which can be independently 
conjugated. The unchangeable word " minna," or "minnakana," is 
applicable in the present tense alone, to denote a state of existence, 
as "Eeng, urn, ayo, &e. menna, or minnakana," I am, thou art, he is, 
&g. But in past and future tenses some other verb denoting presence, 
as the verb 11 to come," 11 to reside," &c. must be employed. 

But the verb u to be," when implying the nature of existence, can 
be rendered in the past and future tenses, as well as the present, by 
adding to the participle or adjective, od in the future, and iena in the 
past, as " eeng laga akanna," I am tired ; " eeng lagaoa," I shall be 
tired; 11 eeng lagiena," I have become tired; "eengrenga akanna, or 
renga akannaing," I am hungry ; " eeng rengaoa or rengaoing," I shall 
be hungry; " eeng rengaiena," 1 was hungry. Od and iena, it is to 
be remembered, are inflections of the future and past tenses in all 
neuter verbs. 

Again the verb " to be" can be simply represented in the future 
and past tenses, when speaking of a thing, by the word " hobawa," it 
shall or will be, and " hobiena," it has been; also in the present, 
" hobowtanna," it is. This mode of expression commonly refers to 
the success or accomplishment of any project. In the English idiom 
we should say for " hobawa," it will do, or it will answer ; " hobiena," 
it is all over, or has succeeded ; "hobowtanna," it is going on. 

That boy will be a thief, could not be rendered, " En koa do komboo 
hobawa," but "En koa do komboo oa." 

Your business will be done to-morrow, not, " Umma kajee gappa oa," 
but, " Umma kajee gappa hobawa." 

This will never do, " Ka hobawa;" go away, it is a 11 over " Mar- 
senomen hobiena." 



276 



Appendix G. 



In English and other languages, state, nature or condition, is render- 
ed by affixing or prefixing the various tenses of the verb "to be" 
to the adjective, as to be hungry, I am hungry, I was hungry ; 11 to be 
glad, I am glad, &c. &c" But in the Ho dialect the adjective itself 
becomes a neuter verb, and is conjugated by affixing to it the different 
inflections denoting time and mood — to be hungry, " rengatea ;" I am 
hungry, " renga akannaing;" I was hungry, " rengaienaing ;" &c. 
Neutee Verbs. 

After what has been said, it would be unnecessary to give any 
example of the conjugation of neuter verbs. It only requires to be 
remembered that their present terminal is " akanna" instead of 
" tanna ;" and their past inflection " iena," instead of " kidda, tadda, 
lidda, or eea," all of which latter are transitive forms. 

Some verbs are both neutral and transitive, as " chabatea" to finish. 
They have therefore both inflections. In the transitive form u chaba- 
tea" is frequently added to the root of some other verb, to denote 
completion ; but it may also be used alone : in the neuter form, it is 
of course confined to the third person. 

Examples. 
Yomchabakiddai, He ate it ail up. 
Bychabakidalle, We finished (making) it. 
Kajeechabymen, Finish speaking. 

G-appa miang chabawa, It will be done to-morrow or next day. 
Nado chabiena, It is now finished. 

The word "herea" is placed between the root and terminal of a 
verb to denote positiveness or certainty ; as when the speaker means 
to state something as an incontrovertible fact, as, u Kajee hereakiddai," 
most assuredly he spoke. u Oocloob hereamen," speak positively. 

The causal form is rendered by putting " chee" between the root 
and terminal — as " landatea," to laugh, makes " landacheetea" to cause 
to laugh ; u aioomtea," to hear, 11 aioomcheetea," to cause to hear, as in 
Hindustani d is inserted (with a few exceptions) for the same purpose, 
as Hunsna, Hunsana ; Soonna, Soonana, &c. 

Continuity (in the Imperative mood alone) is expressed by adding 
" akan" to the root, as " doobmen," sit down, " doobakanmen," remain 
sitting ; u Aioom men," listen, u Aioomakanmen," continue listening. 

Finally, the thoroughly performing an act, is often rendered by adding 



Appendix G. 



277 



the verb, " jometea," to eat, to the root of the expletive verb, as " nel- 
joomkidalle," we all saw it (thoroughly) ; " aioomjommen," listen {atten- 
tively) ; " G-eetee jdm-meen," sleep (soundly). And should the verb 
be of a violent nature (referring to some violent act) the particle 
"tab" between the root and inflection gives force to the meaning, as 
tl Groitabkiddai," he slew him (outright) ; " Toltab kidalle," we bound 
him (forthwith) ; " Neertabmen," Bun (quickly) fly 1 so " Ooitea" is 
to jump, and " Ooitabtea," to bound (as a tiger). 

Kd before the pronoun gives the verb a negative form, as has been 
before explained in describing the Imperative mood. 

There is no verb " to have" possession being denoted in the same 
manner as in Hindustani. I have, " Eengtra minna" — " Mere pas hye." 

From the foregoing remarks may be gathered, that in the active or 
transitive voice — 

The present terminal is, " Tanna." 

The past, " Kidda, tadda, lidda, henna or Jceea." 

In the Neuter Voice— 
The present terminal is, " akenna." 
The past, 11 iena or Una ;" 



The conditional, subjunctive, \ u 
or potential mood terminate in j 



In either Voice- — 

redo" or " Tcedrado" 



All these terminals being of course subject to the inflections of their 
pronouns, which are, as has been said, as often affixed as prefixed. 

A nondescript species of Verb is used in rendering the sentence 
" what shall or can I, (thou, he, &c.) do? 



Future and Present. 



Ch'eeng chikya, 
Chee'm chikya, 
Chee chikya, 
Cheeboo chikya, 
Chee'le chikya, 
Chee'pe chikya, 
Chee'ben chikya, 
Chee'ko chikya, 
Chee'king chikya, 
Chee'ling chikya, 



what shall or can 



a, 

Thou, 
He, 

We all, 
We, 
You, 
You two, 
They, 
Tliey two, 
We two. 



do? 



278 

Appendix G. 



Past tense, 

Chee'ng ehikakidda, what could I have done f &c. &c <fc 
tenl ™Vm ^ aUe " " renderedb y'' Win 'its moods and 
conno* ; « K'ai dyoa," he will not be able. 

Many little exceptions and variations occnr to these general rules, 
which at would be .mpossible to become familiar with, without con- 

prise all tha wonld be of practical ntility. The constant elision and 
confluence of words beginning and ending with vowels must be 
remembered, and that the particle do, has no meaning whatever. This 
will render the examples above given to the different rules simple 
and illustrative. ^ 



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